Dark Clouds

Many years ago (more than I'd like to count), my first rotation as an intern in medical records was in a solemn office supervised by a woman who did not tolerate much talking, let alone levity.  (However, she did like cake so any occasion, for instance the anniversary of the moon walk, calling for a cake was celebrated, quietly.)  New to the environment, I watched to see who were the players.  One woman was particularly kind and helpful to me, teaching me my duties and the ropes.  One warm day she and I were working in close quarters and I whispered to her, "You'd better stay on my good side today."  She looked at me with a startled expression.  "I had only enough deodorant for one arm," I told her (of course, I was teasing).  When Bev burst out laughing, I knew we were destined to be friends, and so we became.  She was the single mother of three sons, the youngest close to my daughter's age.  Our two families had so much fun together over the years and I have so many happy memories.  We were our support during rough times and took pleasure from each other's joy in good times.  We've always stayed in touch, less frequently perhaps as years and distance separated us, but always there for the other.  Good friends like Bev are hard to come by and treasured when they are found.  Her son informed me yesterday that Bev had died after a protracted illness. The light is a little dimmer without Beverly in my life.

Regardless of the sunshine, dark clouds rolled over Boston and all of America yesterday.  Another chink in our armor.  I don't know who could do such a thing as setting those bombs and I will never understand the reasoning behind it.  Lives were lost and lives forever changed, to what end?

It was a day in which I withdrew to the comfort of the routine and mundane here on the farm.  I tended the animals.  I lit a warm fire.  I looked out at the wild turkeys and the wildflowers.  I talked to distant relatives and to other old friends, touching briefly on the Boston tragedy and then moving by unspoken consent to ordinary conversation, each call ending with, "I love you."  Thunder rolled and rain and hail fell.

Yesterday was a day filled with dark clouds.  The sun is shining brightly today.