On Sunday, we enjoyed Beth's (West Palm Beach) family, who attended church with us after a weekend of wedding dress shopping. This was actually the designated day for celebrating Episcopal Schools, but it felt to me as if it were a celebration of family solidarity; we are merging into a single unit in order to fully enjoy Corey and Beth's wedding and to be a part of their life together. There are, naturally, challenges; we will overcome them.
On Tuesday, the occasion was somber. A funeral service. I've lost so many family and friends in these past five years, but I had not been to a funeral since Ms. Vera's. I barely remember that day because Wayne was so very ill. This was my first Episcopal funeral. I basked in the joy of the opportunity to pray, not only for Dixon Robinson and his family, but for everyone I have personally lost these past years.
Wednesday evening was a service of shear joy. Corey was confirmed into the Episcopal church. Wayne's son (and Loretta's, Art's, and mine) is such a joy, in every way. We surrounded him as he knelt before the Bishop; Beth, Tom, Jack, and me - each with our hands on his arm - supportive and so happy for him.
I loved hearing Bishop Keyser, who said that he would talk to us from his chair instead of speaking formally, recite parts of James Weldon Johnson's poem, "The Creation," a reminder of my childhood. He was kind and gentle in his manner, wise and intelligent, knowing just what to say to those present. We are a church family who is also kind, gentle, keen, and insightful.
I'll remember this time as my personal Week of Sundays (to differentiate them from Easter and Christmas weeks) for the rest of my life. These five days have made me thoughtful; I am pensive, in a totally good, even remarkable, way. I'm thankful, this morning, for my personal blessings.
