A Quiet Day

The next day, we slept in.  Holidays are nice for that.  Most of our kids do not crawl in bed in the mornings anymore, but this morning most of them ended up there.  We had a very relaxed day with them.  We knew that people were coming into town for meetings the next day and would be dropping by to visit people, but we had again asked not to have visitors.  My mom was leaving soon, and we did want to spend some time with her, too.  But mostly, it was the last day of our kid's holiday and we promised to do something special with them.  It was a struggle to find energy and make a decision as to what to do since we didn't think well, but we finally took them all to the park in the center of town.  Some of them tried their new rollerblades, and others met friends to play with.  We sat on a bench in the sun and watched them.

Towards evening, we all wanted to see someone, but weren't sure who.  So, we decided to drop in at some friends.  This was my friend who I had called the first day and the one who sat with me the day we got the call that he was safe and coming home.  We knocked at their door and went in for coffee, cookies, cake, and a nice visit.

So good to be home, to be with people we know, to be doing normal things.  We did not feel normal at all, but it was a slow step towards it.  We felt stunned still.  In shock maybe?  Unable still to sort through our feelings.  Feeling like watchers of our lives, not the ones in it ourselves.  Confused.  Able to talk about what had happened, but still as if it were a dream or an event that happened to someone else.

Sitting drinking coffee with these friends and talking did help.  As we began to tell the story, we began to listen to the story, too.  This did happen.  It happened to us.  And then we would sit and be quiet - unable yet to actually feel what had happened, but able to describe events.  Beginning the journey.  But we came again to these friend's house over the weeks to come.  Just to sit and drink coffee and rest.  With these ones, we were under no obligation to have answers or to have it all together.

The next day would hold the first of two team meetings, and we were looking forward to seeing the team again.  Our team leader would be there, and we wondered how that would go, but we looked forward to seeing them and celebrating all that God had done together.