It's hard for me to believe that I didn't write a blog for Christmas - something I'd looked forward to doing since I started this site back in the spring - but life kind of got in the way. Right after Thanksgiving, my wife's stepmom, Junyth Meeks, became very ill and wound up hospitalized. Regina's father suffers from Alzheimer's and needs someone around all the time so the family did what families do. Everybody pitched in, me least of all, other than being separated from my beloved.
The worst became reality as Junyth's condition deteriorated and she was admitted to Intensive Care. A vigil ensued as she didn't improve, and we watched and waited and prayed right up until her passing on the morning of Sunday December 20. We gathered in a windswept cemetery in Soperton, Georgia, the town of her birth, and laid her to rest the next Tuesday. Regina, after 18 days away, returned home with me following the service.
Our house was bare, devoid of decorations, and neither of us had taken the time to purchase gifts for the other. We'd seen our youngest son, Cole, and Alecia, his wife, along with precious Hazel, our granddaughter, at the service but they returned to Raleigh, North Carolina so he could resume work. Regina pulled out a few decorations, and two days later our church celebrated Christmas Eve in an unprecedented, pandemic-inspired manner with Drive Thru Holy Communion.
Christmas morning found us alone as our oldest son, Miles, had been diagnosed with COVID-19 on the day of the funeral. We followed our family tradition of cooking pancakes and then rode to Miles's house to deliver his stocking and a few presents. It's weird to place your kid's stuff on his front stoop, ring the doorbell, and then retreat to the front yard to yell "Merry Christmas!" when he appears. But, that was 2020, wasn't it?
So, no Christmas blog. I struggled to come up with words to share about Junyth - which I will do in the next few days - and then the world exploded with the insurrectionist mob that unlawfully and violently entered our nation's Capitol building. I've got thoughts to share on that event, which will shortly come as well.
Thanks so much for reading and for sharing, and especially for your prayers. I wish you a wonderful New Year and I look forward to journeying forward together with you, with God, no matter where . . .
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