Waxing Philosophic

I've thought a lot today. While I hung laundry in the backyard this evening, listening to strains of Irish music from our backyard neighbor JB O'Reilly's Eating and Drinking Emporium (it was a bit surreal), I thought about the generosity in our world.

I found out today, in a rather roundabout way, that a distant and quite removed cousin just lost her newborn (less than 3 month old) daughter to SIDS. It wrenched out my heart and left me gasping. I still check every night, and probably will for years and years to come, to make sure my son is well in his sleep. Even trying to imagine the grief overwhelms me, living through it would be unbearable. But already the outpouring of love and assistance to my 'cousin' and her family from the rest of my family is trickling through my email inbox...and I'm so far removed from the situation that I'm still not sure how I ended up getting the news so quickly anyway. It warms me to see the love.

I also can't stop thinking about the bushfires in Victoria. I hate the thought of fire. Utter. Destruction. Losing. Everything. I lived in the mountains of Colorado through several hot and dry summers and wondered what I'd do if I ever saw fire. It happened a few years later, my night owl brother was living in the same house and saw flames over the ridge and packed himself and my grandparents into the car and took off. The fires in Victoria are still burning, more than 130 people are dead, and I can tell you it's all over the news, radio, and minds of everyone here. The one bright spot, it seems donations and cash are already rolling in. And people are already out donating blood. One guy had already evacuated, had taken his soon to deliver pregnant wife to the hospital, and decided to stop in and donate blood himself. It's wonderful to see the good. To read some more about what's happening, please click through to the CNN story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/09/australia.wildfires/index.html

It's not all doom and gloom. This afternoon I prepared an extra dinner to take over to a friend who just had a baby AND anticipates moving away from Australia in less than two months. The baby is tiny and precious, and her big sister is a kick in the pants. The friends are from the UK and after I dropped off the meal (there are several of us doing meals over the next few weeks) I was questioned about the tradition of taking meals to new moms, "Is this an American tradition?" Well, I had to think about that for a second, previously I hadn't thought it was limited to Americans, but I responded that in times of need (birth, death, illness) that yes, Americans take each other meals. It's too bad this tradition isn't universal, but I'm sure glad we were able to provide for our friend and her family during this busy time in their lives.

So, after my brief philosophic moment, I hung the last pair of socks and now will move on with my evening. Travis put F to bed just as I started this post and as soon as I publish I'll pop in and check to make sure all is well :)