..."to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope."

"It is going to be Ephesus-hot today!" These are the words my friend, Judy R., offered me yesterday about their temperatures in eastern MN, and she made me bust out laughing! On this page, in my profile, I mention loving being hot, but stop short of saying I cannot be too hot, since our shared visit to Ephesus--- +115 degrees in 2007! That is what Judy was referencing. Whoo, that was a hot hot day, like when you open the oven door and get a blast in the face. So hot it makes your jewelry burn your neck! It is appropriate to add how after our traveling group had cooled sufficiently on the air conditioned bus, we went to buy leather jackets and coats! It was the heat that made me buy that red coat, I swear it!

*

Ellen told me yesterday that Billy loved my coat, and I told her I wore it to the funeral in his honor!

*

The north end of my building has been pressure cleaned, sealed, caulked and is now being painted. The color selected was not the one I liked but, being a big-picture girl, I really do not care all that much. If left to me, I would have had it looking somewhat "Miami Beach-ish" or something more lively but I suppose we have to sort of blend with our surroundings. Regardless of the color, the building looking and feeling fresh, plus having our openings and gaps sealed might be the answer to our leaks, at least some of them!

*

Yesterday on the way to water aerobics, Jeff, my downstairs neighbor, coaxed me into going to look at the new color and see the highlighted window sills done with the brick red accent color. He asked me how I liked it, I told him I liked it fine, and not worry, he would not get any trouble from me about this. Jeff chuckled and said he would not ever expect trouble from me!! At some point in the a.m., the elevator was having its annual check-up and was temporarily taken out of service. We got an e-mail later in the day reporting that some worker in the building had pried the doors open on the 5th floor. This is bad! The car was on the 1st level, and if someone had not looked, might have fallen down the shaft. Brother! Of course, then, an e-mail cautioning us not to pry the doors open on the elevator was necessary. As well as being warned not to hold hot coffee between our legs in the car.....and we wonder why the world is in the mess it is!?

*

When I got to the pool, I got situated on the end where we had classes last year, but then I heard my name called from the adult pool end. It seems they have class over there now, so off I waddled to that pool. Ellen was not down stairs yet so I gave her a call to see if she was coming down. She was still sleeping but she plied herself from bed and came to aerobics. Ellen only recently came back to live in the building after her husband, Billy, died in late January. Baby steps, Ellen, baby steps.

*

And we took many of those yesterday, both in class and for hours afterward! It was well after 3:00 pm before we went upstairs again, after talking for hours and hours, some weeping, some chuckling. We have plans to attend the special Wednesday night appetizer and happy hour event at The Club. Thursday is our "Instead'a Dinner" social for The Palace, and Friday night I am joining Ellen for a show in San Marco, "Out of the Woods". Great great fun coming our way!

*

Besides the great social opportunities coming our way, Ellen and I had some deep conversations about the thing I love most to discuss: joy, and the true source of it. Hence, more tears and searching my memory for the appropriate passages in the attempt to sooth her grieving spirit. One of her greatest concerns is something she heard at a grief support group in Jax Beach where she was told not to consider herself as being married any longer, and that in heaven, she was not going to be married to Billy. I told her there is a passage in the Bible that says we will not be married nor given in marriage, but assured her also that we will certainly know each other, that I long for that reunion someday. Now, I am going to cry! Of course, I reminded her that the joy of heaven is our being face to face with our Father, having eternal bliss and joy (again!) in the heavenly realm, and "He will wipe every tear from our eye..."