Where is God in all of this??

We landed in Scotland Wednesday morning, April 3rd. As most of you know this is an adventure that Craig and I had spent over a year in the planning. (Craig also has a blog: https://auld-riecke.ghost.io/. His is very entertaining. We don't have competing blogs; you may get some of the same information, but most likely a very different perspective.) We arrived at our very lovely apartment at around 11:30 am, and with unpacking, meeting our landlord, Milo (so nice!!), I just decided to stay up.

We went out for dinner, but got lost. It was cold, it was raining, but we found a café, the Curry Goo, which had warm lentil soup, salad and bread; it was perfect.

Back in our apartment, after now being up for 40 hours, I was just cuddling into the down comforter when Terry called.

(Terry and his partner Krys are house sitting while we're gone for six month). Krys was home when a chunk of the ceiling in our dinning room fell. She had no idea what was happening, but they soon discovered that an extreme high wind storm, which knocked the power out, also sent a four foot tree branch hurtling through our roof above the dinning room.

I called Krys. She was so positive and sweet. Terry went right to the place of fixing things (he's the best). I hung up the phone and Craig and I started crying and beating ourselves up with every negative emotion: guilt, frustration, anger; the whole Pandora's Box. We had scheduled, before we left, to have seven trees taken down after some other previous crashes (more on that later). We seriously talked about heading back home and stopping this foolish adventure-thing. I was crying hard, and so very strong inside myself was the feeling that I just wanted to talk with my dad. As most of you know, Dave passed away in 2017, but these are the things you call your dad about...right...trees plummeting through the roof of your house??

I called my brother Charlie instead. He listened and was comforting while I cried. He then said, hey, in a few years, this will be a great thing to talk about around the Thanksgiving table! Which he seemed to think was the funniest thing..."Charlie? Are you stoned?"...

Sometimes you have just two choices: laugh, or cry. I'm not saying one is better than the other. We talked about our father, and I recalled several times when dad would tell the story about Aunt Marsha, forgetting her car was in forward, rather than reverse, pushing hard on the gas pedal, and plowing her car through the back of the old garage, the weathered boards collapsing onto the car. And my dad would laugh and laugh at this. What'd you gonna do? Dave taught us not to take ourselves too seriously. And to laugh.

I also text my neighbors, and Bill Phelan got right back to me, ready with a ladder to help Terry up on the roof.

And everyone said...don't you two DARE come back home; Terry's got this. It's ok.

So, back to my original question...where is God in all of this?

I found God in a son who is so talented in construction, can fix anything, knows just what to do in situations where your house is falling apart, and tells you it's going to be ok.

I found God in a daughter-in-law-to-be who is sweet and kind, and has a heart of gold.

I found God in a husband who holds you and cries with you. Who never blames you or points fingers. Who stays gentle and kind through some of the most trying times.

I found God in neighbors who know you and just want to help.

I found God in keeping alive those we've lost with happy memories and a brother who you are close to, to share those memories with.

I found God in a world of hope and possibilities.