A Small Slice of Life

I have quite the weekend ahead. For the next forty eight hours I have places to go, people to see and things to do. Some of that time will be filled with joy and excitement, some of it with sorrow and reflection. The mother of one of my oldest friend's died yesterday- I can still picture her in my head laughing, as she did the 'slush' with her sisters, at her daughter's wedding. It was their signature dance and now she's gone. Tonight I'll go to her wake, and tomorrow to her funeral.
My mum had a birthday two weeks ago, but because my brother is home from America, we're going to her favourite restaurant tonight to celebrate. Another great friend is tying the knot in a few weeks, and this happens to be her hen weekend, so tomorrow evening I'm off to Carlingford to help give her the send off she so richly deserves. Then, on Sunday afternoon, the whole clan is coming to ours for lunch- a sort of 'last supper' for my brother who is heading Stateside again on Monday. Phew!
The thing is, that last night when I was thinking of all the plans, and running through the organizing required to make it all work, I found that I was feeling a bit, well, stressed. And kind of wishing the weekend away, just so that I could get to Sunday night, and finally be sitting down with a cuppa and everything ticked off my list. But then thankfully, I realized that I was looking at it entirely the wrong way, and completely missing the whole point in the process. This weekend actually represents a little slice of life - there's celebrations of life, and death, and quality time with friends and family, and surely that's what its all about? So, instead of viewing it as a whole entity, I looked again at the individual parts, and began to feel a lot less of the stressed and much more of the blessed.
 I'll celebrate my mum's birthday with family tonight, while my good friend stands at her mother's grave tomorrow- it will be my privilege to be there and stand alongside her. I'm able to spend time with my brother, who lives 6000 miles away, when recently an acquaintance told me, that her brother hadn't been home for ten years.  I've also waited months to celebrate our lovely Nuala's impending nuptials in a wholesome and sensible way (Ha!), and this Saturday night we'll do that in style! And as for the full house on Sunday? Well, everyone's bringing something, and they'll all muck in, and sure the craic will be ninety. So here's to this weekend, which I think I can say with some certainty, won't be a boring one ....let's be having ya!!