Suffering and Hair and Mad Men

My kids are troopers. After four mornings of sleeping in, they popped out of bed today with good, happy attitudes. Well, two of the three did that. The littlest is still asleep because our elementary school starts 1.5 hours after the middle school does. Good, happy morning attitudes? That's more than I can say for their mother. But the coffee is helping. Definitely helping.

Our break was nice. I wanted it to be a mix of fun, productive, and restful and it was. Yesterday was the most restful of the four days. I didn't leave the house and I stayed in my pjs ALL day! I haven't done that in a very long time. It was nice. Really nice.

John and I are hooked on the television show Mad Men. I think we're both lovers of story, and we think the story line is this show is really good. Sad, tragic, ill-fated, and morally questionable at times, but good. Plus, Don Draper is pretty easy on the eyes. John teases me about that a lot. Since the first of the year, we've made our way through Seasons 1, 2, and 3. On Monday I used an iTunes card to download Season 4 (it's not available on dvd until March 29 and we couldn't wait that long!) Good grief. Have you ever downloaded an entire season of a television show on iTunes? It took about 18 hours. 18 hours. I had no idea.

I also downloaded and listened to a radio podcast about Joanne that aired last week on the show her husband co-produces. It's about an hour long but it's good. And it made me cry--both tears of joy and sadness. I know so many of you have prayed and are still praying for her. I'm standing alongside of you in that as well. After listening to that podcast, I sent Joanne a quick text message to tell her hello and that I was thinking about her (she recently got her phone back!) And guess what? A couple of hours later she replied back to me with not one but FOUR messages. They were sweet. And thoughtful. And she referenced something from early December which made me know that her memory is still very much intact. Isn't that ASTOUNDING! Made me so happy.

Her progress is so encouraging but she still has a long way to go. My heart is heavy for her family these days. And not just for her family but for so many I know that are struggling with hard things: loss, marital stress and divorce, financial stress, and other kinds of health crises. I think the internet is a really wonderful tool for bringing people closer but it also makes me acutely aware of the pain and suffering of others. As a person who tends to feel things deeply it brings a heaviness of heart that I often find myself unable to shake. It's hard sometimes, really hard. The flip side of that though is that sometimes you get to see the good that God often works in those situations or in the waiting. Not always, but sometimes.

Alrighty.
I don't want to end on a sad note, so I'll tell you one thing I'm super excited about this week. I'm getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow. HOORAY! It's been 14 weeks + 2 days and I never intended to go this long or let my hair get this scraggly or have such a hideous root stripe down the top of my head. I don't know what's worse--my roots or the grays that seem to multiply by the day. I've been told it's "really not that bad" but I think my friends are lying to me. One more day until Rachel works her magic. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can. Now, where's my hat?