Sometimes life presents us with gifts.
Yesterday’s snowy day was one of those occasions.
The gift actually started the night before for me and my family, when school closings were confirmed shortly after dinnertime. David, Grace, Ben and I took advantage of the opportunity to hunker down together in our family room for an impromptu, mid-week, family movie-night, enjoying “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (and discussing and cringing together at the portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi’s character by Mickey Rooney!).
Then yesterday morning, a hardy, intimate group of us gathered in the chapel for our usual 7:30am Wednesday Eucharist. Our time together centered on a reflection by Br. Curtis Almquist from the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, MA:
“There are five Gospels. There’s the Gospel according to Mathew, the Gospel according to Mark, the Gospel according to Luke, the Gospel according to John, and the Gospel according to you. What is it that you know in the bottom of your heart of God, of God’s light and God’s life, and God’s love that you can give testimony to?”
A couple of hours later, a few more hardy souls trickled in through the courtyard, making their way to Bible Study. Office conversation considered the question “to cancel or not to cancel Voices” (it was canceled). Final edits were made for Holy Week and Easter bulletins and services. Emails were answered, calls made.
Then after lunchtime, a hearse pulled up in the parking lot for a 2pm memorial service that Caroline officiated. From my office window, I saw the casket being lifted and carried from the back of the hearse.
All this, as the soft, white snow continued to fall.
My afternoon concluded on a hill near Boys’ Latin. I hadn’t been sledding in awhile, and Grace and Ben were game. While David stayed home to catch up on grading, the three of us threw our two saucers and one toboggan sled in the back of the car and hit the slope. Ben mastered the art of “saucering” backwards. Grace’s long brown hair flew behind her as she hurtled down the hill. And I could not, for the life of me, manage to keep that durn toboggan straight! But boy, was it fun, to play in the snow with my lovies.
Sometimes life presents us with gifts.
I hope yesterday’s snowy day was one of those occasions for you.
Cristina