[Magdalen] Happy Christmas.

[Jon Egger]

Yesterday I felt miserable and spent the morning in bed crying.  My mother
died on Christmas morning 5 years ago.  I thought I had worked my way
through her death, but no. Griefwork continues and so does life.  I got out
of bed and spent some time with Dawn and Becca.  I called my other kids and
kids-in-love to see if they liked their gifts. They loved 'em. This is the
first year that I've had enough 'spare money' to get them gifts.

I have been grumpier than usual and I can feel the insidious dark rising.
I'll talk to my hospice RN tomorrow about changing my antidepressant; the
third med change in a year...I hope I can find something that works and
keeps working.  Those of you who know depression know how this dirty
bastard works.

Grace and peace,
brud

On Fri, Dec 25, 2015 at 7:18 PM, Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu> wrote:

> It has been a pretty amazing day, and my heart is full of gratitude.  Woke
> up later than my usual 6 am, due to late service and dawdling afterward
> last night/early this morning.  Resolved not to attend AA at 7:30 this
> morning, but at the last minute changed my mind, and arrived 1/2 hour
> late.  Immediately learned that one of my favorites (turns out he's one of
> everyone's favorites, with 30 years or so of sobriety, to boot) was in the
> trauma ICU after a motorcycle accident.  I was able to visit after church
> (clerical collar still works to get me in almost anywhere!), to bring
> Christmas tidings to a banged-up and scraped-up and bones-broken friend,
> but who was awake and alert.  I carried the news back to my fellows at the
> 1 pm meeting.  What a gift; what a privilege!  Then off to an open-house
> gathering at a good friend's (she and her husband were our traveling
> companions in France this late spring), where I ate in accordance with my
> food program and had a good afternoon of companionship.  Then home to open
> gifts with Cheryl (my housemate), while a duck cooked in the oven.  Dinner
> was duck, roast squash, and a dish of salad.  Lovely day, and I'm
> exhausted, hope I can stay up for the holiday special of "Call the Midwife"
> at 9 pm.
>
> Merry Christmas, my friends!  Many of you have been a gift to me since the
> fall of 1996 when I began seminary and discovered the wild world of the
> interwebs.
>
> Ann
>
> The Rev. Ann Markle
> Buffalo, NY
> ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
> blog:  www.onewildandpreciouslife.typepad.com
>
> On Fri, Dec 25, 2015 at 7:31 PM, Charles Wohlers <
> charles.wohlers at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > Merry Christmas to all!
> >
>