Life and All of Its Mysteries

Within a period of seven days, one of my cohorts lost her mom (96 years old); one of my cohorts lost a mother-in-law (97 years old); one of my cohorts lost her granddaugher (3 weeks old); and the same one that lost a granddaughter had a grandson born the day after the granddaughter passed away. Life has its ups and downs- its highs and lows-, but there is one certainty in life. God presides over all of these times. Thank you, Lord for your faithfulness.
I just returned from my first trip without my loving companion. I went with our Seniors group from church to Chattanooga. Travelling by bus we arrived Friday afternoon; went for a dinner cruise that evening on the Southern Belle on the Tennessee; had an all day excursion on a train to Coppertown (an old copper mining town); and boarded the bus on Sunday for the return trip. We had a wonderful time in a short period of time. There was lots of laughter, fun, and fellowship.
Andy was so impressed that I was able to ride on a bus, ship, and train all in the same weekend. I would love for Amy and Clayton to take he and Kendall to Chattanooga and let them experience the same adventure that I had. I know that he would love it and I think that K-Cole would, too.
I was a bit proud of myself for venturing out of Milan. Spending the night away from home has been my achilles heel since James passed away. I am okay going out during the day and at night until it is time to go to bed. I just had not been able to convince myself to spend the night away from my room/bed. My room has been my sanctuary until this weekend. However, we (Mister and I) had not travelled to Chattanooga in quite a long time. My only difficult time came when we were returning and I thought about how much he would have enjoyed being with all of our old church friends once again. He surely did enjoy having a "large" time and he insisted on everyone having a good time along with him!
You know, the tears that I cried and still cry are not for him, but are mine alone. I have selfish tears for now. I would love to be able to talk to him, see him, catch him up on everything, hold his large hands, and hug him again. However, I would not deprive him of his eternity for anything. These are just selfish thoughts. We will share good times again with our Lord.
Wow! Isn't that an awesome thought?
Pray for peace and comfort for all of my cohorts who are grieving/hurting.
Grace and peace be with you,
Cathy