8:00AM: Hope

After a long day's drive from Galveston yesterday,

I delivered Marsha home and then headed for the lake

where Rob awaited with a wonderful salmon dinner...every bit

as good as any of the fancy dinners on the cruise!

After a long talk last night about some grief that

continues to crop up for us in the most unexpected ways and places,

and the resulting pain and sadness (in the moment),

I awoke this morning hungry for words 

of hope and encouragement.

Since I hadn't brought Nepo along for the cruise,

(It was definitely not a "Nepo-Experience")

 I just picked up the nearest thing I could find,

a little booklet that was in one of the cabin bookshelves,  

knowing it would have to do.

Amazing how just the right words continue to show up for me,

even in places I would never have looked when I

had "my preferred words" in tow.

Here's the little booklet I found:

 And here are the pages that were meant for me this morning.

Although the poetry and style of these writings, 

are not those I typically seek these days,

they touched me deeply this morning.

And I was reminded of how important it is for each of us to express

 TRUTH

in our own way, in our own time, for the sake of others.

 I'm very thankful for 

Isaiah, Bertha, Catherine, Grace, Regina, Anne, Clay

and Salesian Missions

for expressing these simple, yet lovely, words 
so they were there when I needed them.