sweetness and sorrow

some more words from wolterstorff:

"i remember delighting in them -- trees, art, house, music, pink morning sky, work well done, flowers, books. i still delight in them. i'm still grateful. but the zest is gone. the passion is cooled, the striving quieted, the longing stilled. my attachment loosened. no longer do i set my heart on them. they don't matter. instead of rowing, i float. the joy that comes my way i savor. but the seeking, the clutching, the aiming, is gone. i don't suppose anyone on the outside notices. i go through all my paces. what the world gives, i still accept. but what it promised, i no longer reach for.

i've become an alien in the world, shyling toucing it as if it's not mine. i don't belong anymore. when someone loved leaves home, home become mere house.

"that shared grief isolates the sharers from each other. though united in what we are grieving, we grieve differenlty. as each death has its own character, so too each grief over a death has its own character -- its own inscape. the dynamics of each person's sorrow much be allowed to work themselves out without judgement.

and then we have our own little elixir to some of this sorrow:
(she actually pushes herself down the slide)