This past week had more rainy days than sunny ones. In fact, from Wednesday through Friday, a look out the window was gloomy, grey and wet. Saturday the sun returned and cheered things up. Yesterday the wind in our neck of the woods was fierce and blew in a cold front, complete with cloudy skies, so we’re gloomy again.
Anne was home for the weekend. She brought two friends from college, and the weekend was a whirlwind of activity. I tried to have food ready whenever they blew in, which was no small feat since their plans changed by the hour. But from the looks of our empty refrigerator, I was fairly successful. They took off last night around 6:00, after the wind died down a little. No phone call to tell me she’s safely home, but no call from the Highway Patrol saying she isn’t, so they must have made it back okay.
The gloomy weather is a carbon copy of last week, and this Monday’s picture of our gravel road shows the damage the wind did to our fall foilage. If you look through the bare branches near the center, you can see our house peaking through – a sure sign of cold weather to come.
Normally I would moan and groan about these signs of approaching winter, but not this week. A few days ago, something happened that changed my attitude. A friend of our family, only fifty years old, was diagnosed with advanced liver and lung cancer after a lifetime of clean living. They’ve been married twenty-five years and have two teenaged sons. During the first three years of our daughter’s life, his wife came to our house and provided day care for Allen and Annie. For many years, we worshipped at the same church. I was their oldest son’s fourth grade teacher several years later. Two years ago, Hiram donated a kidney to his brother-in-law, and they send a card every September to thank him.
He started chemo last week, and we thought we’d let the hub-bub die down a bit before we go to visit them. But their family is constantly in my thoughts and prayers. When I bundled up for my walk this morning and saw more leaves on the ground than on the trees, all I could think of was how much they want to be together next fall on a cold, windy day that whips the leaves from the trees, together for another Thanksgiving, another Christmas, another New Year.
I can’t complain about the loss of warm weather when they may soon lose so much. This year, I look forward to the coming winter and pray for many more to come.
