“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our journeys sometimes get interrupted by the unexpected–that’s what has been going on here lately. As autumn days grow shorter, someone so dear to us, a once very independent soul who handled her affairs single-handedly, suddenly faces a frightening world without the benefit of memory.

How can it be that a photo of her husband of nearly sixty years stymies her–who is this guy? Or that facing her account baffles this bookkeeper-at-heart, and organizing her daily pills has become a bridge too far?

Her “I don’t know,” rings plaintive, unbelievable.

Yet weeks are passing. In this chasm of loss, acceptance follows shock . . . we do believe.

Many of you have trod this path with loved ones, so you understand. You know, too, how much simple beauty means at times like this.

Some ground cover near the back porch somehow survived last night’s hard frost, so you pick a few and find a vase. Weary eyes light up, and those flowers on an end table near your loved one make all the difference for a day or so.

For those of you who follow my blog, thank you. I’ll post when I can, but probably won’t be writing much here for a season. I so appreciate your prayers.