I'll fly away, O Glory, I'll... fly away

this week, life has been a bowl full of cherries. some oh so sweet, some just too sour. i need a needle and some thread to weave a balance through the joy, and the sorrow. for where there is love, there is sorrow, but the biggest sorrow of all is not to have known love.

some words inspired by today's funeral service for a relative of a friend. another young life lost before their time.

fridays have become my babysitting day, so today after the service my little 6-month old buddy was dropped off. mom and i took him with us to the after-reception, to comfort and support the family in this time of trial. he was a bundle of joy, a baby magnet, a smile maker. everyone wanted to be his friend.

six months is not old enough to be able to talk. but the simple innocence and communication of an eye sparkling smile sometimes speaks more than words.

so it was that the afternoon was spent contimplating the duality of new life, and this "thing" we call death.

also on this day, a certain loved one remains in my mind, heart, spirit, and soul.... as i pray they may have an abundance of love, comfort, peace, strength, courage, wisdom, and determination.

sometimes we ask ourselves why, and sometimes there is no explanation. no reason. no rationale. no answer.

so we have the choice perhaps to stop asking, and instead start living, creating, believing, changing, and fighting.... for everything we know to be true... for everything it is in our power to do... and for our own personal happiness.

as Elizabeth Gilbert in eat, pray, love shared with me: "happiness is the consequence of personal effort. you fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. you have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. and once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

i think so.

the final meaningful event of this week that i would like to mention, is how one of my dearest friends moved away from the land of enchantment and onto her next adventure. what a beautiful soul that girl has, i will miss her dearly. and yet even through the departure tears, it is a time of beauty, of change, of beginnings, of yet another happiness to be discovered.

"Just a few more weary days and then,

I'll fly away.

To a land where joy shall never end,

I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory,

I'll fly away.

When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,

I'll fly away."