Crash, Bang, Boom

In the middle of the night, 3:30 a.m. to be exact, we arose to a clatter.
It sounded like a loud boom and glass breaking. I immediately thought someone was breaking in and grabbed the phone to dial 911. My husband, fearing for the safety of one of the children, jumped up to investigate.
The picture hanging above our couch had fallen down on top of the Joy tree and sent it tumbling down. The picture wire in back had come loose and luckily as it fell, it hit the ground in such a way that the glass didn't break. Well more like, unfortunately, the joy tree cushioned it's fall.
Relatively minor damage, though.
The damage was limited to four ornaments. Two are easy fixes. The other two are going to be harder to glue. All in all the damage is minor compared to what could have been.
And it IS a material possession.
I remember when I was growing up, my mom telling me after I broke a dish, "We love people, not things."

I'm repeating that to myself as I pick up the ornaments.
It is true.
But I love a person who is represented by this thing.

Time after Time

(Joy, 1 year old)
2 Years.
In some ways the longest two years of my life. In some ways the shortest.
How can it be that she's been gone so long? and yet so short a time?
This concept of time is confusing. My life has been on pause since that day but it also hasn't paused. The kids have grown up. I've had a baby. Time has moved on. We have always told each one of our kids as they were babies, "Don't grow up. Stay just the age you are. I wish we could push pause." But we don't really mean it. We have one child that is eternally 2 years and 3 months. We don't really want another that doesn't grow up.
2 Years.
You know what? We are doing good. The baby has helped us heal. I love seeing the kids with delighted faces as they get her to laugh or they feed her or play. They feel Joy through her as they enjoy having a baby sister.
Time really does heal. But time is also a stealer of memories. As time passes, we forget. We don't want to but we do.
It's a balance of moving forward and not forgetting.
I still think about Joy every day. I hope I always do.
I don't want to forget.
I just want to keep on loving and living.