translocal

what a difference 14 hours of sleep makes. a lovely brisk walk with my dad around the park in winter sunshine also helped. of course, adjusting back to GMT brings with it a clearer mental state and i now realise i am missing Joel in a way i couldn't yesterday such was my general state of blurriness.
hope this still new year is treating you well and if it's less than good, then i hope you are getting what you need. if you are one of the many people i haven't replied to, i am getting there.

::

this post started several days ago i've been seeing some of the horrific pictures coming out of Haiti and listening to coverage on NPR and it's been hard to stay in a place of not so much gratitude as... well, perspective i guess. my life feels very blessed right now and yet when faced with images of such incredible tragedy and suffering it is difficult not to feel like one is merely revelling in one's joy while others weep. reality so often sobers. and yet we must celebrate. we must.

two things come to mind. first, if i left behind many years back my nightly childhood prayer, 'As I lay me down to sleep...' I still return to this one on occasions at the table with friends:

Some hae meat and canna eat
And some wod eat that want it
But we hae meat
And we can eat
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

i'm also reminded of one of my favourite lines from the US version of QAF. As crowds pour out of the bars and into the streets to celebrate Pride, Emmet is consoled in grief for the death of a friend by a line from Debbie,

Mourn the losses for they are many. But celebrate the victories, because they are few. 
And then they dance.

So much of this living is holding together that tension of death and life... of mourning and celebrating... grieving and gratitude... regret and hope...and so i find myself both sobered and mindful and yet still so grateful that i am surrounded by many good people and circumstance in these days. 

May we pray. and give. and give again. And as Sullivan says so often and which gives me strength when i feel myself falter,
Know hope.

::

jude smithey rightly reminded me that i had forgotten to include gail and beth in our transatlantic couples list, and indeed i also forgot my dear brother and sister-in-law who represent GB/Irl and Canada.

::

which is a nice segue to some photos from Toronto in the first week of the year...

answers to questions in the next post...

LB