Robbie Report

robbie picture

As you can imagine, we’re watching our surviving cat, Robbie, very  closely. Maybe even too much so.

Patty has been very worried about the cat not drinking, getting constipated, not eating, etc. You’d swear these animals understand English. A few minutes after this conversation, Robbie was in the litter-box pooping, then she ate a whole can of Mediterranean Harvest, and within seconds of Patty stepping out, she took a nice long drink of water. “There! See? I’ll be all right!”

But we have to allow for some vagaries of behavior on her part. She lost Peep, too. She’s taken to lying on an old T-shirt I laid on the floor for Peep. We can be sure she’s not shrugging off her sister’s death–and she can certainly see how upset we are. Being a cat, she can probably sense it in more ways than we humans can imagine.

A death in the family is always hard to bear. Always! It always makes me wonder what’s going to happen next. I’m trying to work my way through it, keep busy… yeesh, I could use a laugh! Maybe I’ll go outside and laugh at the weather.

For Linda: ‘In Christ Alone’

Our friend and sister and fellow-laborer, Linda Sorci, has been placed in hospice care. We have one last hymn request from her, through her daughter, Lynn. I think this was Linda’s favorite hymn, In Christ Alone.

This is hard. There is nothing harder than this, when our loved ones are parted from us. Our Lord Jesus Christ wept for Lazarus: He knew He was going to restore Lazarus’ life; but He also knew the pain felt by Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha. He wept for that pain.

Isaiah: “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men [and women] are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. [She] shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in [her] righteousness.” (Isaiah 57: 1-2)

Speaking only for myself, and for my wife, we feel this loss keenly. We’re only glad we had the opportunity to speak with her and comfort her, just a few days ago, and didn’t miss her altogether.

We pay our tears as tribute. We grieve, but not as heathen who have no hope. Where Linda goes, we’ll go, too.

It’s just awful hard to bear, for now.