I feel like one of those red dot people

For some reason, I want to start this post with "Have you ever...?" So here goes:
Have you ever been listening to an album and remembered who you were with when you first heard it and it put you in a funk? Or been driving down a road and remembered a conversation you had with someone while driving and it ticked your brain back to that person? That is exactly where I'm at. It used to be that I would call my parents on the way back from church functions (Atlanta traffic gives ample opportunity for long but not too long conversations like these). As I drove away from one such function this evening, it hit me. If I called now, Dad would be the only one picking up and wouldn't appreciate the meeting I had just had as much as Mom would have. He would listen, sure, but Mom knows the nuts bolts gears stuff that goes into planning VBS type event sand would love to know that I'm doing that sort of thing now too. But she's not on the other end of any phone line I can dial now. And yet, I know she knows but that doesn't make it any easier to not hear her voice. Everyone said it would hit me at some point. Hello ton of bricks, I was waiting for you. Now if the tears would just stop, I'll open my eyes and click the post button.

Lenten sabbath keeping

This Lent, I've covenanted with myself to spend at least one full evening a week at home doing absolutely nothing productive. This is more difficult than it may sound for me, unfortunately enough. My own penchant for overcommitment to organizations and church means that I'm often at one meeting or another, often taking notes, often multitasking to the point of oversillifying myself. This has been especially the case in the last two months as I have begun to come to terms with my own grieving process. So this Lent, I am both taking time for myself and taking time to grieve. It will likely be a long, but needed, 40 days.