So, as another Monday morning rolls around, I'm reminded we're still here.  We're still here, we're still breathing.  In an hour or so, the kids will be meandering through the house.  Cambria will be dragging her blanket behind her in true "Linus" fashion and Arlie trying to find every excuse possible to postpone starting school this morning.  Our home will be filled with the perfect aroma from a fresh pot of coffee and I am reminded that there is still breath in our bodies.  Daily routines will be put into practice and right now, there is something comforting about the familiar replay of events called "routine".  It's more than just schoolwork and Monday morning laundry.  It's bigger than that.  It's the feeling of needing to be "normal" again.  And while "normal" is still so very far from what it was a few weeks ago, or what I'd like it to be now, it's still feels good to get up and know that this Monday morning, (right now, today) the drudgery of routine actually seems a little inviting.   So as I type this post in my quiet time before the kids get up, I will savior this moment of peace and know that when the troubled waters come again that there will be more Monday mornings.  More mornings like today when routine will feel comforting. I'm not so naive to believe that the heartache is gone but this little, tiny baby step feels good even if there are setbacks along the way.  

Someone showed me a graph recently, the graph was very generic.  Just an 8x11 piece of paper with a line starting at the bottom of the left hand corner.  The line showed many ups & downs and dips along the way.  But on the other side of that piece of paper, the right side, the line had reached the top of the page.  He couldn't draw any further, it had reached the top.  And that my friend, was the proof that "rising" will happen.  Pen to paper, routine to Monday morning, rising is happening right now, even if I can't feel it yet.  There will be dips along the way but we will get to a place of happiness.  It will come again but until then, we will be thankful for this Monday morning.

And I'll leave you with a song that has become one of my favorites recently.  I think it can pertain to so many of us for many different reasons.  Maybe it sounds selfish but I know when I forgive, truly forgive, it will set me free.  That's comforting.

Happy Monday morning to all of you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lu5udXEZI