making sure

“Pooh!” whispered Piglet.
“Yes, Piglet?” said Pooh.
“Oh, nothing,” said Piglet. “I was just making sure of you.”

This week, I spent a lot of time making sure. When we celebrate birthdays on the same days we remember the lives of those who have passed away, all we can really do is make sure of each other and take care of the basics - share food and laughter, release tears and thanksgiving, offer hugs and stories, and receive the same. These are precious days.

And each one is very full lately, demanding of me a new kind of attentiveness - to be fully present and obedient to that which God is asking of me right now - to sit with a friend who made an irreversible decision, to blow bubbles with 3-yr-old neighbors, to be present to John Michael and Heather in their loss, to celebrate two important birthdays, to say goodbye to another family of Burmese refugees, to water the bushy Roma plants, to choose to share the hard truth, to have a reunion of Sojo sisters, to mourn the broken relationships of dear friends and their children, to dance in the kitchen, to celebrate the lives of the dead, to celebrate life.