So Much Has Happened

Joseph's basketball team had an amazing season, as did he. Last Friday night, we were on our feet as a crowd when he hit a buzzer-beater perfect 3-point shot. Only hours later, he was favoring a badly bruised knee and his team was facing their elimination. They lost by one point. Had they won, they would have played in the championship game. Honestly, we were all pretty sure we would be playing for the trophy. It was that kind of year. Around here, both boys play basketball, Brian coaches them both, and their mother is at every game. All 4 of us had to let go of a bit of a dream. It would have been fun.

I do remember, though, when Joseph's baseball team lost the championship game last summer. That was pretty tough.

Even though Joseph has seen trophies come close enough to taste and then watched them float away, I am watching my little miracle baby grow into a physically strong, tough young man who always congratulates the other team and shakes hands with the referee. I watched him sitting in the backseat of the car with his head bowed, talking to God about his game. We sure all wanted to see him with the trophy, but I wouldn't trade what I am seeing in him for a trophy. I was reminded of his tiny little life when I found his coming-home-from-the-hospital sleeper today during another kind of letting go.

It was time to clean out the endlessly multiplying stuff. You know what I mean, right? Stuff. I don't know how it happens. I give things away pretty regularly. I don't tend to collect huge piles of paper. But somehow.....stuff. I'm in awe of the hideous speed of stuff multiplication. Given a snow day on Sunday, I decided it was the day to let go of some more stuff. I was torn between horror at how much had piled up and downright glee at the bags and bags and bags leaving my house. However, at one point, the letting go hurt and I had to stop. (Actually, Brian found me bawling my eyes out and told me it was probably time to stop.) The deaths of my daughter and dad happened so close together and I still have a few things I've kept as memories. Some of it, I was able to let go. Some of it....well, I wasn't ready. And, for the record, I'm still keeping the little coming-home outfits for both boys. There's just something about holding a tiny little sleeper and wondering how on earth the young men wrestling in my living room ever fit even an arm in there.

Following a weekend of letting go of a little dream for my son and letting go of embarrassingly large piles of stuff (not to mention a surprising amount of trash), I headed straight into celebrating the engagement of a dear friend. At the exact same time I was celebrating her engagement, I was also celebrating my cousin's engagement. Weird, huh? Not as weird if I share the fact that they are engaged to marry each other. Happy dance!

Oh, and in the day of celebrating, I got to hold another cousin's new baby. Baby snuggles are absolutely delicious. Did I mention another cousin's young son just trusted in Jesus as his savior? Again, more new life. Delicious.

Maybe I have the most amazing cousins ever. All of them.

If an engagement wasn't enough for Monday, one of my friends also had her third baby that day. Really such a big day. Wow.

Smile for my day....today I sent a text to Brian. Exact words: "Do you want me to wait on plugging in boys' opossums or try syncing myself?"

Yup. My phone actually changed the term "ipods" to "opossums". Once I noticed, I went back to send a correction, thinking I had probably hit keys wrong. Nope. I typed in "ipods" many times and it continued to auto-correct to "opossums". My cousin's theory is that since I carry a non-Apple phone, it is corporate sabotage.

Please know, I did manage to plug in the opossums and successfully synced. This is big news for me. Technology moves a bit fast for me and this new season of both boys having saved up for and purchased iPods has threatened to send me spiraling back into that really bad place I ended up with the SMARTphone awhile back.

A nice quiet day would be quite lovely tomorrow. I have so much to think about. To borrow a phrase that may sound familiar, there is much I want to ponder and store up in my heart.

And, as always, sorrow and joy continue to mix. Monday was not an amazing day for everyone I know. Just some. So, let's keep praying for one another, agreed?