A Fellow Traveller

It all started with putting up my Christmas tree and discovering some of the lights weren't working....Then the bathroom sink stopped draining and no home remedies were working.  The kitchen oven is not dependable any more, requiring the temperature to be set 100 degrees lower so as to not offer burnt offerings.  And now the truck is operating in limp mode after a long trip to Ottawa and back.....lots of frustrations. I'm becoming aware of a more subtle pain in my heart.  I'm thinking that my grieving of a recent death is  lessening until someone gives me a hug and asks how I'm doing. When I find myself tearing up, I know the tears that were underground and unacknowledged need to be welcomed, not stuffed.  When I stuff them, I eat more of the wrong things, especially when I'm alone. I'm becoming more aware of the holes in other's hearts at this season: While sitting around the table with a grieving family, we made Christmas cards but struggled with the...

(To understand better, read the previous post Mothering from Outside) When I got home from school, I checked the nest outside, expecting it to be empty by now. I was sure the birds would have "flown the coop". My whole perspective has changed, now that I see more of the truth. The bird who was trying to fly yesterday is still trying, but will never fly. What I couldn't see before was that he is joined at one leg to the other bird. There must have been some kind of birth defect that joins them together. Were their eggs partially joined together or did they share the same egg as siamese twins? Or did something happen after birth? http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705375988/Free-at-last-conjoined-robins-separated-one-in-critical-condition.html It looks like the stronger has been attempting to remove this burdensome weight. There is blood on the eavestrough and the weaker one no longer is chirping. The biggest one is on the edge while the other is head first insid...