Life gets heavy.
Life can't be all homemade yogurt and jokes about "Who is Putin?". It gets heavy sometimes. And lately, it's been heavy for a number of people around me. While not directly affecting my day to day goings-on, there has been a bit of sadness and upheaval on the fringes of my life.
Saturday, I learned of the passing of my first cousin to cancer, just over two years after losing her mother, my aunt, also to cancer. She was about 20 years older than me, and lived in Ohio, so we didn't have a regular "cousins" kind of relationship. Yet, even when it's family you don't see much of, you still love them and connect with them in some way. Something about shared DNA and family history. It was sad news for me, but my heart breaks for my family that knew her better than I did.
Sunday, I learned of the passing of a woman I've known all my life, the mother of some of my oldest friends. This pair of Seminole sisters spent many a football Saturday in the swamp with her family when we were kids. This news was much more unexpected, and no less sad.
In addition, several family members have lately suffered losses, set backs, and challenges the likes of which I don't want to go into detail (since they're not my details to share).
I'm going to go ahead and just use a full on, overused, but very apt cliche and say that my heart has been heavy, not just for myself (actually, least of all for myself) but in sympathy for the sadness I know others, people I care about, are experiencing.
I'm still going to work, coming home, eating dinner with my husband and hanging out with my friends. I'm still talking to my cat and translating her "meows" into their English-language equivalents. My routine isn't drastically altered by these things going on around me. But, frequently and unavoidably, my mind keeps coming back around to how hard these days and weeks have been and will be for those around me. Any alteration then, for me, is mental and emotional. I mean, it's just sad. No two ways around that.
So what do you do? How do you cheer up? Or, more correctly, how do you try to feel better?
And that's about it. There's not much else that seems to help any better than that.
I'm definitely not trying to be a "grief hog"--rather like an "attention hog," it's how I think of people who take someone else's sad news and cry it from the rooftops to garner sympathy for themselves. Like I said, my sadness is much more for the others directly impacted by late events more than for myself. But this is a blog which is supposed to be about me (ME! ME! ME!), and this is what's going on in my Boring little life lately and what is most on my mind.
We know, as I said, life can't be all "Who is Putin?" jokes. But I hope that for my friends and family going through these tough times, they'll soon be able to giggle about stupid jokes through the grief and trouble.
Saturday, I learned of the passing of my first cousin to cancer, just over two years after losing her mother, my aunt, also to cancer. She was about 20 years older than me, and lived in Ohio, so we didn't have a regular "cousins" kind of relationship. Yet, even when it's family you don't see much of, you still love them and connect with them in some way. Something about shared DNA and family history. It was sad news for me, but my heart breaks for my family that knew her better than I did.
Sunday, I learned of the passing of a woman I've known all my life, the mother of some of my oldest friends. This pair of Seminole sisters spent many a football Saturday in the swamp with her family when we were kids. This news was much more unexpected, and no less sad.
In addition, several family members have lately suffered losses, set backs, and challenges the likes of which I don't want to go into detail (since they're not my details to share).
I'm going to go ahead and just use a full on, overused, but very apt cliche and say that my heart has been heavy, not just for myself (actually, least of all for myself) but in sympathy for the sadness I know others, people I care about, are experiencing.
I'm still going to work, coming home, eating dinner with my husband and hanging out with my friends. I'm still talking to my cat and translating her "meows" into their English-language equivalents. My routine isn't drastically altered by these things going on around me. But, frequently and unavoidably, my mind keeps coming back around to how hard these days and weeks have been and will be for those around me. Any alteration then, for me, is mental and emotional. I mean, it's just sad. No two ways around that.
So what do you do? How do you cheer up? Or, more correctly, how do you try to feel better?
- I've been praying a lot for those affected by these struggles.
- I've been counting my (many, many more than I deserve) blessings, and giving thanks for them.
And that's about it. There's not much else that seems to help any better than that.
I'm definitely not trying to be a "grief hog"--rather like an "attention hog," it's how I think of people who take someone else's sad news and cry it from the rooftops to garner sympathy for themselves. Like I said, my sadness is much more for the others directly impacted by late events more than for myself. But this is a blog which is supposed to be about me (ME! ME! ME!), and this is what's going on in my Boring little life lately and what is most on my mind.
We know, as I said, life can't be all "Who is Putin?" jokes. But I hope that for my friends and family going through these tough times, they'll soon be able to giggle about stupid jokes through the grief and trouble.
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