Wednesday........

This face. This was our Wednesday.

"I hate Wednesdays." All of my littles said it. And to be honest, it was kind of a doozy. Beginning with Nana suffering an unfortunate fall, and ending up with cracked ribs. My big girl smashed her finger in a door at school. And then her desk mate got sick. All over their desks and chairs. (Anybody who knows my daughter knows this is a fate worse than death.) Even two days later she stills get tearful and tells me she can't get the image out of her mind.

But the worst part was the email. The email where it was revealed that one of big girl's classmates was losing his father to leukemia in the near future. Near future for goodness sake. There was to be a class meeting about what leukemia means, what it means to lose a parent, and how to be a good friend to someone who is so very sad. So our family read this email. And we talked. And we asked questions. We wrote letters and cards. And we thought about their family a lot.

And then the father died the next morning.

I don't know this family well. But I can only imagine their heartbreak. And as it happens with all tragedies, it forces you to reflect on your own blessings. Maybe that is where the lesson lies in loss. To learn to be grateful in the very moment. Not later. Not afterward. Not when it is too late.

So my thoughts and prayers center around this family with young children, for their comfort and care. And then my prayers finish with gratitude for our current good health, for togetherness, and for it not being to late to express it all.