no more Tuesdays

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
                    Martin Rinkart 1663 (Berlin, Germany)
                                  
one of my favorite hymns
one of my favorite lines
"Who from our mothers' arms...has blessed us...on our way"

on so many different levels it touches me

personally
me in the arms of my mom
I have been a child

universally
all of us begin our journey from our mothers' arms
I have had a child (or two or three or four...)

individually
the arms of the mom who this week will bury a child
I have only seen that pain
I have never had to experience it

It's not the pattern we expect as usual
usually the children bury the parents
isn't that how it goes
the older before the younger

but is there ever a 'usual'

And even when it's 'expected'
are we ever 'ready'

I wasn't ready

even after watching the long suffering
not just the suffering
the  l o n g  suffering
...for so long

I always thought there would be one more visit

one more Tuesday

to talk

to listen

to rub his back

to take 'a walk'

to warm his hands

to be an angel

but our days together have come to their end
his time here has finally ended
and the life life he's been waiting for all these years
has finally begun