Two O'Clock

It is 2pm and my calendar tells me I should be at Kathy's house, praying with her. Instead, I just took a chocolate cake from my oven. It is for Kathy's family, all gathered at her house today. That doesn't make sense. Neither baking nor typing it. I cannot comprehend what has happened because the transition time was so brief. My spirit feels light and free and contented that she is "coming over the hill and the springtime has come", as the lyrics to Dance with Me describe. My head tells me she is less than a mile from my house, resting on her sofa, listening to praise music and drinking in this beautiful fall day where just weeks ago the Monarch butterflies swirled in her backyard. Where her carpet is waiting for us to fall on our knees and pray, her hardwood floor is ready for dancing, and her kitchen is an always cheerful source of cold, refreshing water. I want to sit at the table with her and laugh and talk and cry and...groan. Her "word from God" for 2009 was "groaning".

I want to dodge all the parked cars that are always in her driveway and the crazy traffic in front of her house and bounce up the walk to see her ferns, green as always, and know that she is inside with a new question or new recipe, like "Will you groan with me?", or "Tell me how to cook fish so I will like it." I'm wearing green today, and our reunion group will be wearing green--teal, which made Kathy happy--to the service on Saturday. And like this sister I'm feeling green for Kathy's celebration today.