Forward in QUOTIDIEN

Thank you all for your kind words of condolence! The flood of love and support we have received has been astonishing! Yesterday, a man from my church came and worked three solid hours, pruning and trimming our front yard. The burn pit out back is literally buried in brush. I smell another bonfire in our future. (Maudlin note: more ashes).

Arrangements have been made, and tomorrow will mark the first day that we resume the task of living in the world of the living.

It would be unreasonable to ask the entire world to stop long enough for us to gather our strength and balance before getting back on the merry-go-round. We represent, after all, just a simple speck of sand on the beach of this world's misery.

I've called my work to let them know I'd be in tomorrow. Figured I would start with a short day.

Anne-Marie will likely start back to school tomorrow, only for as long as she can take it. It will be her first outward step in chipping away at this monolith of grief, and it is not my place to dictate just how great that step must be right now. Let her see me survive it and know that it is doable.

The request, for the Memorial, is that there shall be no suits. Jeans, khakis, dress shirts is the dress code. I was going to insist that men wear suspenders in memory of my husband's favored attire, but one of his brothers was pretty staunch about not wearing them. ;). We'll see.