Candle Lighting and New Life

For The Compassionate Friends’ Worldwide Candle Lighting, we lit our double-wick maple butter candle along with the first and second candle of Advent. We paused a few minutes to remember David during our Advent supper. Over half of our guests were kids, some too young to remember David at all, the rest having barely known him. Of course, these children don’t know any of our grown children: to them we are grey-haired denizens of a two-person nest. It was a bittersweet moment, realizing that David will make no more memories and that no one new will get to know him: his thoughtful gifts, his dedication to hard work, his funny laugh.

David with Santa Claus at the Arlington Ward 2009

After my trip to Montana to attend my cousin Duane Hazen’s funeral, I flew to southern California to spend Thanksgiving with my sister, her husband, and some of our kids. Two days later, Eliza Joy Johnston was born to Sam and Savannah (Savam!). As a full-time homemaker, I got to spend the next ten days with them. I love the fresh, soft-as-satin skin, the huge eyes, the arch-less feet and tiny toes. Sunday morning Savam went to church while I minded Eliza; Monday they took a lunch date. It was hard to leave.

While staying with my sister, we took several one and two-hour walks along the “Fullerton Loop” trail near her home. Weather in the 70s, sunny and bright. Four days after I returned to Lexington, it snowed several inches, a sudden shock to my system. But on Monday the sun shone into my office window, intensified by the reflective snow in the yard.