Celebrated a Dear Friend's 60th Last Night, Although She Couldn't Be There With Us. All Prayers For Her & Her Family

One of the benefits of an English major, I suppose, is reading and delving deeply into Greek and Shakespearean tragedies. Can you imagine this happening? What would you do if this happened? Of course, as tragic as those stories can be, the reality of living life can be equally as tragic. All life is struggle. The Buddhists have it right. Pain is part of the journey, and water falls from our eyes in equal force: when we are feeling deeply sad and when we are overjoyed by story and humor. Our emotions are triggered. 

The crews I hang out with always have a way to blend both comedy and tragedy. I think we need to, in order to survive. This is why we spent Shirley's 60th on FaceTime, letting her know we are here for her and feel so terribly for the life events of the past two weeks. She was supposed to be on a beach celebrating her time on earth, but a drunk driver killed her daughter-in-law, and she had to fly to Texas to support her son and the children. It is not how anyone wants to bring joy to their time on the earth. It's even harder to keep one's head up. 

This is why Leo created a paint-tape portrait of Shirls and we hung a banner. Someone even bought cake and we sang to her, letting her know this is what we would be doing (as always) if she was home with us. The emotions are heavy and the pain is even harsher. 

We all love our friend so much and would do anything to help her to ease the pain (it's why I told her that we all looked good from the table up (from where we passed the phone around), but were butt-naked from the waste down. It's hard to laugh...but we try. It's one way to find a cure, however shallow and ineffective. 

Another Tuesday is upon us and my night is late. Still, my mind and prayers will remain on those that are going through the nasty stuff right now....it seems to be everywhere at the moment. And we all need each other.