JULY 24
My heart is in anguish within me...
And I say, “O, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.”
—PSALM 55:4-6Even in our “normal life” there are times when we’d like to
fly away, be gone to some place free from the stress we’re
under. Now, when reminders of our loss greet us at every
turn, the urge to flee can seem overwhelming.
We have probably all known of people who have tried.
As a small child, I overheard my father say of a family friend
who had become an alcoholic, “He didn’t start to drink at
all until his son died.” An attempt to flee.
Or we read of someone who commits suicide: “She had
been despondent since the death of her husband.”
Going through grief ourselves, we can understand this
desperation, though such recourses solve nothing and only
increase the anguish of family and friends.
But we may need a temporary respite—a trip, maybe.
Perhaps some change of routine. Even a new job. A few
months after my daughter’s death, I took on a part-time job
in the afternoons in addition to my freelance writing. I kept
it for five years. I remember driving myself to work on the
first afternoon and already feeling the lift of doing something
new, in a community of friendly people.
I will choose my flights carefully—but where might I go?