My but this has been such a weekend ofcontrasts! From the whirlwind arrival of the Huyer family on Friday evening to the strange silence now permeating the house as Sunday evening draws in.
With a pot of leek and potato soup simmering on the stove for supper I look back on all that has been packed into the past 48 hours with something like awe and am deeply sensible of the goodness of this life and the need to give thanks in ALL situations for this priceless gift given to us by our Lord.
As mentioned yesterday, the SYC Staff meeting took place here in the afternoon with plenty of boisterous laughter, little boys running from room to room and myself in the kitchen working on an early supper for us as their parents snuck off for a well earned Anniversary Celebration dinner and movie. I “held the fort”, dealt with their laughter and tears and had everyone fast asleep by eight pm having introduced William to one of my favourite book series starting with “Finn Family Moomintroll”.
This morning there was the usual tumultuous confusion as we all ate breakfast, I walked Wil and we somehow managed to get out the door and into the van by 10am heading for St. Stephen’s. We made a slight detour as Bishop Mary had kindly urged me to take the grapevine wreath I had made, last Wednesday, from her vine prunings. Her home is near church so Timothy kindly digressed and I hopped out to retrieve it from the Bishop’s back porch.
Arriving at church there was a palpable air of sadness as our community gathered for the first time since the loss of an unborn child, this past week, from our Parish family. The Gathering was quite small and as we began I realised that my Godsons were the only children present. Following discussions with Pastor Nick I had decided to follow a modified version of the content previously planned for our cancelled All Ages Gathering so, with my helper, John we trooped upstairs to talk about All Saints, and how we Christians are all “saints”! focusing on the story of St. Brendan. We watched a lovely little video created by Irish schoolchildren, snacked on apples and caramel popcorn and then made sail-boats for St. Brendan the Navigator, with a reminder that all of us are on adventure as to we follow the path our Lord has laid before us.
Then it was lunch with the congregation. It was hard to keep back my tears watching the soon to have been grandfather as he interacted with 7-month old Andrew, my heart was heavy thinking how much the family must be hurting now, and how hard it will be for all of them to move forward. They are all strong in faith and by God’s Grace we pray they will be given the Peace that passes understanding.
As for myself, I gave those three little guys some extra long hugs as they headed back to Ottawa, truly aware of how fragile a gift is this life and how we need to value each moment and embrace the simple joys in every hour.