Finding a New Normal

The past few weeks, we have each spent time finding a new routine.  There is suddenly a large change that will take a bit of time to adjust to.  Gone are the late nights sleeping on the couch, and the weekly visits to Lancaster Cancer Center, the time schedule for medication, and the hours spent listening to music.  Gone is that routine...and in comes a new one.  It has been unexpectedly bittersweet.  While there is now discretionary time, and a looser schedule, it means that a significant element has been removed.  That element is Pop.  However, though the void is felt, it is not unbearable or dwelt upon.  Many of the traditions that we started as Pop became ill, we have tried to carry-on.  Family meals, a few times per week, are high priority, and simply conversing about life has permeated our conversations.  Of course there are moments where a picture, or thought, will steal the breath from our lungs, but it is too sweet not to reminisce on all the memories.
The morning after Pop's Life Celebration, we piled into a suburban (graciously lent to us by a friend) and made our way down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  As we were driving through Virginia, Mom pulled out the 'My Favorite Memory of Ken is...' cards from the service and read them aloud.  The memories flowed from the small note cards like a river of life.  Each of us sat gazing out the window, lost in worlds far away, as the stories carried us back and forth in time.  Mom would throw her head back in laughter, and cover her mouth, at the humor of some of the memories.  A few seconds later, she would stop reading, and bite her lower lip to keep it from quivering as tears made their way down her nose, falling onto the paper.  It was a beautiful moment where the humor and impact of Pop's life rang in the open space of the vehicle. 
This rang true as well for the Life Celebration that so many of you helped to make possible.  It was the people in the seats, who came together in joy and honor, that made the event so beautiful to us as a family.  Thank you for sharing in Pop's life, and for blessing us by sharing in the day.  May all the praise and honor for Pop's life go to the one who has created us all...Christ Jesus.

For the next seven days (starting tomorrow), the postings will be the tributes that were shared at the Life Celebration.  For those who were unable to make it to the service, we felt your prayers and presence there as well, so thank you, but we also wanted to provide a way for you to share in the day.  Hopefully, some of these tributes will resonate with you, and perhaps even take you to another place and time.