Four chapters in...

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Brollies in the green colourway; Kaffe Fassett designed this gorgeous fabric, which I am turning into a placemat.

Mourning and rejoicing simultaneously, because what else is there to do?

At the end of last week, I finally started writing. Kind of a Just Do It! sort of situation, and much to my thrilled relief, I have nearly twelve thousand words accumulated. That's pretty darn fine amid occurrences that feel pretty damn horrific. "Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn." Romans 12.15. Because truly, that's what we're called to do.

In the smuggled correspondence with his best friend Eberhard Bethge, imprisoned Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that most of his fellow prisoners only knew whatever emotion was most prevalent; they were frightened if circumstances were poor, greedy when opportunities arose, despairing as though no hope existed. Bonhoeffer sounds a little judgemental here, yet his complaints are valid, in that he then espouses how in the novel Witiko, the protagonist thusly named seeks to live a 'whole' life. Bonhoeffer notes the only way to do so is to embrace a vast array of experiences and emotions, feeling in full the variety life offers, good and bad. The America I grew up in seems to have vanished in thin air, one reason I attend protests and contact my reps, so my grandchildren might know a glimmer of liberty. We CANNOT let these thugs, both in the government and their supporters, steal our joy. Bonhoeffer didn't let his jailers curtail his vital theological work, and I can't let abominable politicians and assassins thwart my writing.

Having said all THAT, I am grateful the Minnesota shooting suspect has been captured, dismayed by Utah senator Mike Lee's grossly inappropriate tweets about the murders. I pray for the Hortman family, for the Hoffmans to recover fully, and for those like Senator Lee to never endure what the Hortman and Hoffman families are suffering. I have to keep my heart and head above the din, which means paying attention to my own business, ahem. It also means to enjoy what I do, write about such blessings while keeping in my thoughts those in sorrow. A dear friend is in hospital, while my own hubby is STILL SICK. Our hearts take those lickings, but we keep on.....

Not fighting, or not all the time. We engage in love, in struggles, in sadness, in victory. Victories feel rather thin these days, why I'm so pleased with those four chapters. Why I'm chuffed to only have one row left to stitch onto my heart quilt. Why I'm working on simply placemats, gifts for my hubby, as he really likes Kaffe Fassett's Brollies print. I bought three more colourways of it with the granddaughters a couple of weeks ago, and pinned the last two placemats yesterday. Tonight's stitching will be that last row of heart blocks, finishing one of two placemats, while watching some sort of sport. Is basketball on, I don't even know. The SF Giants lost two of three games to the LA Dodgers. Weird that amid the ongoing attempt to establish a dictatorship, there's still America's pastime to consider, like multiple realities exist within this nation. Maybe it's always been like that, separate realms for Rich Americans, Poor Americans, White Americans, Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Straight Americans, LGBTQIA+ Americans, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, Atheist Americans, Buddhist Americans, Sikh Americans, Nationalistic Christian Americans, Christians Not Seeking To Overthrow The Republic Americans, etc, etc, etc.

Sorry this has drifted off in a vent-tangent. But unlike how blithely the Honorable Senator Mike Lee views the murders of Melissa and Mark Hortman and the attacks on John and Yvette Hoffman, I am sickened by the violence and the dispute of facts toward the suspect. I am aghast at the chilling rhetoric and lack of empathy and how few have taken responsibility. And I am downcast at how another shooting has wreaked havoc on people simply wanting to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. For that is what life is about: Sharing in our tandem existence on this earth in all the ways the heart does best. Loving, caring, understanding: That is truly what this life is about.

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