Three Weeks

Will things ever be normal? I've heard the phrase "new normal" about a zillion times the past few weeks, and I guess that is where we are headed. We're back to doing the normal things -- school and wrestling for Will, work for Clay and even I went back to school today. We're cooking supper, watching TV, making cookies with the boys and taking them to the movies. I even knit a little yesterday.

But there are hundreds of thank you notes in various piles of completion on our dining room table. Droopy flowers from beautiful bouquets on top of my compost heap. Five boxes of saltines in the pantry and four bags of cheese in the frig (I think everyone who brought a pot of soup brought a box of crackers and a bag of cheese to go with it). Beautiful live plants in the foyer, angels, stepping stones, picture frames and prayer blankets all around the house that weren't there three weeks ago. Not normal.

And is it normal for a 16-year old high school junior to keep a brown and white striped onesie in his pocket all the time?

Will, like all of us, has an Allie-shaped hole in his heart.