This weekend I went north to see Jerry. I haven't seen him since his excursion to Cincinnati in August, and I missed him terribly. So I drove in Saturday morning and we went to see the Chipmunks movie. Which was hilarious. Even better we saw it in a theater with tons of kids that were amazingly well behaved. It was cute when a spongebob squarepants cartoon was shown in the movie and the kids all started screaming the theme song!
Afterwards we went to Wal-Mart and I got the cutest snow boots. Now SNOW already!
Saturday late afternoon I drove from Fremont to Clyde to stay with Nicole for the night. On the way to Clyde I have to drive past the cemetary where Denise was buried.
Looking at the grave and feeling the grief wash anew over me I was gently reminded that she doesn't live in the cemetary. Her body may have been placed there, but who she really was, it's no longer there. God just nudged me over and over again reminding me what a temporary life we're all living, from the moment we are born we are moving towards bodily death no matter how fancy we wrap up life, it's still the truth.
Standing in that graveyard contemplating all this and wanting so bad to hug her again I was again just reminded by God that life is so much more then the grief that we bear, then the sorrow we curl up with at night. Life is about giving everything and then some more, it's about telling people you love them and treating your spouse, parents, kids, friends as kind if not kinder then you treat strangers.
It's been almost 8 years since Denise, and a little over 13 since ellenjane died, and I still find myself drawn to their graves in ways I can't exactly articulate. But Saturday, the idea that they aren't really there, they aren't really there, the idea that they are somewhere else, somewhere I'd like to believe is so much better then the place they were here.
Grief is a funny thing friends. It has a way of popping in on you during the most joyous occasions, times when all I really want is to call you who I'm grieving up and tell you all about the conversation I had with Ryan on Friday, all about the Chipmunk movie, all about the silly inconsequential things that happen in my life, that seem somehow lessened because I can't share them with you.
Nicole and I took her parents out to Fontana's (mmmmm) in Clyde for dinner. One of the guys I worked with at Whirlpool that summer was there with his wife. He grew up down the street from my dad and would tell me stories about growing up there while we rotated through tubs and braces. But dinner was good, then off to Nicole's parents where we laughed and played with animals and just hung out.
It was a good weekend. I slept in and procrastinated severely Sunday since I was near any church I've ever gone to, played on the computer in bed (I really need to get a new laptop) and just generally lazed about.
Visited my parents for a bit on my way through BG on the way home....
Oh! I watched 3:10 to Yuma Sunday night which was fantastic. So good!
I finally started the MLK Jr. bio that has been mocking me from the bookshelf for about 4 months.
Good times.
One last thing....in less then 5 days I'll be in Florida on my way to Key West for a week!
How was your weekend?
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