It's going to be a long walk...

A friend family lost their eldest son last Saturday night. Mr C and I had only been friends with the Z's for about 10 years, though our children have known them longer than that. The Z's are the family that our kids have gone with on their annual hiking Trek for at least the past decade. Our kids are much closer to them than Tom and I... but that said- the Z's are family.
Their son's death has hit us quite hard, stirring up our thoughts of losing Bill.

When Bill died, I wanted to know a lot of things about grief. There are a few books out there- most are about losing your spouse, and a few on dealing with losing a parent. Not so many on losing a child, especially an adult child. I was in constant tears, calling my sister in law who had lost a grown son ten years before.

It was a comfort to have a person tell me that the things I was feeling were normal, that I wasn't alone on the island of despair. You can KNOW your child is with our Heavenly Father, and still miss them so terribly that you don't want to draw another breath yourself. To feel torn in two with grief, and with wanting your other children to know that yes, you love them THIS much as well.

Joshua Z's death has brought back so much of the emotional chaos we went through, losing Bill Joe. Our hearts ache in empathy for the Z family, because we know. We have been there.

It came about that I am home alone for several days. It was the least disruptive solution to having other family members where they needed to be during this period of time. I pretty much insisted that Mr C would go to his Mom's house as planned for Thanksgiving.

Me, the person who is all about being with Family for the Thanksgiving holiday, thought the circumstances had fallen together for a purpose. A book is being born. It's not even a full outline yet, as I don't work well with outlines. Right now, it is an outpouring of emotion and observations. It is maybe four pages so far- the merest seed of book sprouting.

Unless the title is already taken, I believe the title is going to be "Through The Valley".

Please keep the Z. family in your prayers, as well as my daughter Becky and son in law Stephen.

I suppose I better get back to writing that book. Thanks for reading.