BIZZY BAKES

I have been doing a lot of thinking of late and much of it brings peace and acceptance.  I have discovered that these three words, love, loss and life are intertwined and the lines can be blurred.  The sadness of the loss is powerful, the memories of my daughter's life are momentous, and the love we had and have is awe inspiring. She was my first daughter and was always filled with life.  As a child, her spunkiness got her into big trouble. Despite this, how could one be angry when she was always fighting for a cause.  So what , if she told a bully off in no uncertain terms.  So what, if she argued with a teacher who was acting like he was ten years old.  Once again, she was in the right.  This led her to become an adult who fought for the rights of others, fought for the lives of others, fought for her beliefs. In her years of pain and sickness, she counseled others with her illness, she spoke in public to inform, she quietly listened to other...

Although I am not up to blogging normally, I do realize, this is a good time to share random thoughts and perhaps to even share a little about the Jewish customs, at the time of mourning.  Right now, nothing seems real in my world.  I am functioning and doing what must be done but there is still a fuzziness surrounding me. To ground myself, let me start with "shiva", the week after the funeral, when we sit with other mourners. "......... once shiva begins, the focus shifts to the mourners. The mourners experience a week of intense grief, and the community is there to love and comfort and provide for their needs. This is a critical point, for if one must feel the heart-wrenching pain of grief and loss, it should be done at a time when all those around are there to help and comfort. The laws of mourning have the purpose of focusing a person on their own spirituality. We experience an overall feeling of physical discomfort as we totally focus on the soul of the one who h...