Three days in

Tal and I are visiting my parents at Litchfield. It's a belated Christmas, there having been three funerals the week following Christmas Day which required my attention. Two of them I conducted for elderly parishioners. The third, for the bishop who ordained me to both the diaconate and the priesthood, I attended.

While were were bulletins to organize and print and funeral home personnel with whom to coordinate, it wasn't as hard a week as I would have imagined. There was a sweetness to the work having to be done; there was quiet purpose in the time spent with families. In other words, funerals in the middle of the Christmas holiday didn't mess up anything except my travel plans. The funerals helped me remember the importance of the reason for the celebration in the first place -- God with us through the good and the bad, God part of every story and event.

We arrived here late on New Year's Day. Tal drove and I missed most of the scenery between Edgefield and the coast when sleep overcame by best intentions of being conversational. Yesterday the weather was lousy and I stayed inside the entire day except when the dogs needed walking. Today all of us have been a bit more energetic -- lunch at California Dreaming which involved dressing nicely -- but certainly haven't broken any accomplishment records. Downtime is nice.

So, we're three days into a new year. I wonder what I learned in 2005 that will instruct me in how I treat 2006. Time will tell. If, of course, I pay attention.