The Pain and the Joy

If this picture grosses you out, you can imagine how I felt this morning when Heidi snagged Una's special "homemade" dog treat (from the dog's mouth) and took a big bite. At least it wasn't Purina. And Una gets a medal for not making a peep--that's how Heidi had enough time to sample the goods.
She was happy to see her own puppy again.
And spent about an hour putting on her lip stuff from Aunt Kendall.
And miraculously ran into Nana at Chicago Midway during a 20 minute layover (thank you, Lord!)




On the road again: Giving Southwest another chance.
The below shot isn't really from this trip, but going with the travel theme, here is Husband getting into a car.

When I watched Shadowlands (finally without falling asleep!) this fall, I was particularly impressed by a quote from Joy--they know she is going to die soon, that her time is short, and they travel to a place that "Jack" has long imagined to be Heaven: a sunfilled, pastoral valley that seems to live up to his expectations. They are looking at the scene, a light rain starts to fall, and both thinking about the end and the Eternity when Joy says to him, "The Pain then is part of the Joy now."

I think about this a lot--so much of our life now is about distance. The distance between us and our parents--not to mention our siblings, who are spread even further across the 50 states and will probably be across the globe before too long. But now, even more, I think about the distance between us and our Departed, the distance between earth and Heaven.

We had a wonderful, beautiful Christmas with each side of our families. But there is pain too. It hurts to look around the table and feel a great absence. It hurts when not every single moment is picture-postcard perfect, because our time together is so limited. And most of all, it hurts to get back into a car and know that it will be a distance of time before we see each other again. And it hurts when your flight gets cancelled and they lose your luggage and you leave at least one thing at every place you visit.

But the pain is part of the Joy, and it makes the Joy deeper and more real and more prophetic. I miss everyone so much already, and I'm so thankful for you all, you, yes, and even you. Thanks to everyone for a beautiful Christmas (hopefully some videos will follow).