Heavy

I am writing tonight with a heavy heart. The music teacher at Emma's school passed away suddenly last night, after 24 years of serving and teaching there.
She was Andrew's piano teacher and she pulled him into every possible musical opportunity there was at that school. He was in choruses and choirs and played handbells as well as piano. She had a special way of connecting with Andrew that brought out the best in him and really boosted his confidence. Emma has been dying to take piano since kindergarten, but Mrs. Bruce didn't start instruction until kids are in the second grade. Emma's first lesson was to be tomorrow morning and she has spent all summer practicing for the big day.
She was not young, but not old enough to go.
She had a massive aneurysm and was gone in a snap. The suddenness of this loss is stunning. We have shed lots of tears in our house this afternoon, and many other households are sharing in that tonight.
So, please pray tonight for the dozens of little people who are having very grown-up conversations with their parents. We parents need all the help we can get when it comes to navigating the bigger stuff of life with the ones we have been trusted to guide.
I do apologize for the state of this blog of late. I have never intended for this to be a sad parade of dramas. In fact, this is a spot where I particularly like to revel in the happiness of life-as-I-know-it, and the mess part is usually just the byproduct of all the fun. I generally consider mess an essential part of any happy jumble of activity. But sometimes mess is just mess. Sometimes mess comes without the happiness too. And mess that comes after mess that came after some other mess? Ugh.
And even though I have many more pressing things to attend to, tonight I will sit in the quiet and look for solace in the gentle rhythm of some knitting. Sometimes, when you're just too tired to do anything else, that's the best thing.


DAILY BLISS: my first band parent meeting - I nearly got myself elected president of the band parents association! yikes and kind-of-yay!