May
Come May, we were back to “normal,” at least on the outside – with the girls back at school and Q and me back at work. Zoe and Avery did really well, all things considered, and looking back I think school was therapeutic for them. They got to escape the sad reality of home for a bit and focus on their school work and friends. It also probably helped that there was so much going on, especially for Zoe – with highlights being a presentation of her artist/innovator project (she researched and dressed up as Mary Cassatt – how cute was she?), the fifth grade tefilah, and a field trip with her mentoring committee. Avery, meanwhile, had a chorus performance and worked at the third grade class sale.
As for me, I was as okay as I could have been – and I continued to be lifted up by the tons of support from our friends and school community. As I wrote in a thank you email to a group of parents:
Since my parents’ accident, I’ve had people sit with me, hold my hand and cry with me, make us dinners, drop off groceries, bring me caramel macchiatos, fold our clothes, sweep our floor, take us to/from the airport, schlep Zoe and Avery to/from school or soccer, run my errands, prepare our house for shiva, and send me heartfelt messages of support via sympathy cards, emails, texts and Facebook. I write for a living yet am unable to find the words that adequately describe how much this has meant to me and my family. “Thank you†just doesn’t cut it, but that’s all I have right now.
My parents were good and kind people (my mom would be the first one to bring a “hotdish†– Google it – and sympathy card to a griever’s house), and I know that they’re somewhere beaming in happiness over how I’ve been treated and cared for…
-M
