Zoë's primary teacher gifted all the kids in the class a bag full of activities to do during General Conference and a bunch of candy (mostly to use for the conference games). Phoebe can't attend her own class without having a panic attack, so she went with Zoë this week (she alternates between Zoë's class and Alexander's class). This meant that Phoebe also got a big bag of candy.
When she walked into the primary room after class and showed her big bag of candy to me, I said, "Wow! That is a lot of candy! What did you do—rob a candy store?"
"No," Phoebe said very seriously. "But I think Brother Wasden did..."
(After primary Brother Wasden gave me two more packs so that Alexander and Benjamin wouldn't feel left out come next weekend).
It was a bright moment for me on a day of mourning.
I was not surprised when President Nelson's death was announced. He was 101 years old and he passed away last night.
It's hard for me to feel very sad when someone who has lived a good and long life passes away, so I wouldn't even say I felt sad when I found out this morning.
I mostly felt like "this makes sense."
And before you judge me about that, just know that in our house we allow any emotional response to hard news. When I told the kids their grandma was going to die, one of them burst out laughing and asked if that meant we could get a trampoline now (because Grandma was against trampolines). Did that laughter morph into uncontrollable sobbing? Sure.
But first there was laughter. And that's okay. Big news creates lots of big feelings and you don't always get to decide which feeling shows up when (or first).
This morning my mourning was simply that "this makes sense." His life was good and long and I think he is well-deserving of some rest.
The news about the heinous attack at an LDS chapel in Michigan, on the other hand?
That doesn't make sense to me.
It feels scary and heartbreaking and...senseless.
There is so much to mourn in our world today.
So thank goodness for three-year-olds who say adorable things!
Hugs! I am so sorry that this happened to your faith community. I was already sad about the shooting in Southport last night. Though I don't go to bars, I am very familiar with that area because Andrew and I have walked along there MANY times. In fact, we will probably go to Southport this winter at some point. And then I read about this horrible deed on people who were attending church... of course, I thought of your family as I can't imagine sweet Mormon families there with their children and such a violent evil being done to them. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susanne! And I'm heartbroken about Southport as well. (my) Andrew shared a post with me today that said, "Of the mass shooting today..." and proceeded to talk about one specifically. Because apparently (sadly) we need that kind of language to talk about these events.
DeleteIt's so surreal when tragedies like this happen in your "stomping grounds," so to speak. I hope you'll be able to enjoy your time at Southport.