Day 301 The Parade of Life's Seasons

Dear friends,

It is the unofficial end of summer. Sigh. Tomorrow my older 2 children get on the school bus to Columbia High, and my baby cracks the books at his dining room table. It has been a first rate summer, albeit too short, and though it doesn't really end til much later in the month, the beginning of school really is the termination of vacation. Still, I love the fall. Autumn has charms unmatched by any other season. Apple picking, crisp, windy days, fires in the fireplace, an extravaganza of nature's color, soft, warm sweatshirts, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and my favorite of all the holidays, Thanksgiving. No doubt we'll squeeze out a few more days of that luscious, balmy weather, but there's no stopping the parade. November will be here before we know it.

Worked at AMC today (time and a half!), then to Hannah W.'s house to get the invitations done for the Smith Family Thanks You Dessert Nite. Now the invitations are for folks who don't have access to this blog, or don't follow it. So if you know someone who prayed for us, or helped us along the way in any detail, please help me out by signing them up electronically using smittythanks@gmail.com. Hannah graciously used her photo shop program and did what I couldn't have done in a hundred years to make a lovely invite. I'm going to get them printed this week, and begin distributing them hopefully by next week.

Hannah W. also helped me begin setting up my own website. I plan to launch the site on November 9. At that point this blog will be history. I will maintain a link to it on my site, but will no longer write here. The chapter of a commitment to writing daily during a year of recovery will be closed. There will no doubt be other ventures as the Great One sees fit, but not here. I have loved, in fact treasured these nightly meetings with you, dearest bloggies. The memories here will always be among the sweetest of my life. But everything has a season. Happily, I will continue blogging but without a daily mandate to do so. And my new blog will be about life in general, not specifically related to the events of November 8. There is no way the crash will ever be completely gone from my writing, because it lives inside me in a thousand ways. But the focus will change. As I get the website completed, I will let you know. I also plan to begin writing a book using this blog as a loose outline. The progress on that will be on the site too.

Last night at the hospital I had to deliver something to an office upstairs when I noticed how near I was to a place I used to go, sometimes in the middle of the night, to take a shower back in November. I saw the door and felt compelled to go in. A wave of emotions swept over me like a mighty wind. I remembered vividly standing in that shower, crying, groaning, almost screaming in agony over the condition of my husband and daughter. The old pain was thick in the air, but alongside it was the immense wonder of the greatness of God. He pulled me through that black hour, and for that I am ever grateful. There were moments, before I knew the outcome, when it seemed I would not survive the next minute. But I was never, ever alone. Great is His faithfulness.

My heart is filled with love for you, friends, this evening. Be blessed as the quality of light changes from summer to fall, and life once again brings transition and variety. Nothing on this earth lasts forever...except us!

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann