Parting is such sweet sorrow

This has been an emotional week. We learned early Monday morning that Kira's former music teacher passed away unexpectedly over the weekend. He was such a wonderful man--charismatic, always quick to smile, and very gifted in his field. He was just 41. (You can read about this amazing man here.) We have thought about him and his family all week. He is survived by his wife and his five year old son (from a previous marriage) who has autism. To make matters worse, his home caught fire on Tuesday, displacing his widow and causing $150,000 worth of damage. Unbelievable. It just all seems so wrong--it's hard to wrap my head around.

Last night I watched a re-run of Grey's Anatomy--(Sometimes a Miracle) the one where Meredith is dead, and meets up with several characters that have been killed off in previous episodes--including her dog--oh how I cried when they had to put Doc to sleep! (You can read what the writers had to say about this episode here.) She was given the opportunity to choose to live--to come back to her body, and continue living. Then there was her mom, and I kept thinking about how in my faith that we believe that there is a veil between mortal life and life after death, and that sometimes the veil is very thin. Oh man, when Ellis told Meredith that she was, "anything but ordinary" and they parted ways, I cried and cried. I think it had all finally caught up with me. I don't deal well with goodbyes, with grief. A life cut short is tragic--especially in real life. I went to bed promising myself to suck it up and be happier about living. Life truly is a gift.

I've been reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this past week. I went and stood in line like a giant nerd last Friday, and walked out of Barnes and Noble with my copy at 12:45am. I went home and read the first few chapters. Wow. I'm a little more than 3/4 of the way through it. (Finding time to read has usually meant late at night after Kira's asleep, the dishwasher's done, etc.) I've kind of taken my time--trying to savor it, as I'm having a hard time with the series coming to an end. This book in particular has been such a roller coaster ride. I don't know how I'll feel when I finish it. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to Harry and company. These books have made me think about death a lot too. Harry losing his parents as a baby, then others he was close to--usually under tragic circumstances. Yes, this one has been a little tough to get through. At this point in this particular book, JK Rowling has killed off four characters. With each new chapter, I feel like I'm just waiting for the next tragedy. Good grief.

Okay, so enough of my moping. I'm going to take a shower, get dressed and go live my life!