Heading home...

I never thought it would take my sister's dying to get me to Springsteen's hometown of Freehold, NJ but... stranger things have happened and now we're here!  Beth is still clinging to life ~ ever so slowly slipping away ~ so with my brother, Phil, committed to the end we left to return home today.  It has been a very complicated time of grieving, working out hard and practical details that nobody wants to consider and the weirdness of some family dynamics, too.  I am so grateful that my siblings are so grounded and committed to compassion.  It has made this ordeal a quiet blessing.  Not so within the wider family, but my brother and sisters have been jewels and I am so grateful.

So after praying and saying my last goodbye to Beth, and working out some end-of-life medical details, we headed towards home.  But so was half of New Jersey, too and we got bogged down in Jersey Shore traffic.  Thanks be to God for credit cards and motels, because we got off the road and now have a room to chill and sleep for a whole night without interruptions.  (Cell phones, another blessing, will be turned off!)  The Holiday Inn was hosting a Jersey wedding in full regalia, so when the desk clerk said to someone on the phone, "It is 5 pm and all my rooms need to be cleaned..." we went next store to the Hampton Inn.

This continues to be a wild time and I pray that Beth can let go soon as her body is failing on so many levels.  But, once again, this is not under my control.  So I find myself saying over and over, "Not my will, by thine be done." 

And now for some dinner!