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Monday, December 31, 2007
We Interrupt This Blogcast
It's been two weeks and counting since I last checked in with you all, even by podcast. Argh...
Of course this is the busiest season of the whole church year. And what good and pleasant busy-ness it's been! Including: a Sunday morning Christmas pageant; a Sunday night sing-along; a busride all across town one evening to sing carols for shut-ins; Three Wednesdays' worth of "Handel's Messiah and the Bible"; and -- at last! -- Christmas Eve's full-house gathering for lessons, carols, and candles. Yay God!
I apologize for the interruptions to our electronic conversation this month. I have 2 credible excuses...
1. Proverbial technical failures have beset our sound volunteers Sunday after Sunday. Argh again.
2. Family preoccupations have been biting into my concentration on more general commitments. I'll explain.
We Buckleys, plus a few of the Hernandezes, plus 5 count 'em 5 dogs, spent a weekend at The Sea Ranch. TSR is a huge rustic resort on the Sonoma County coast, featuring an ocean view from every house, and sufficient open space between houses for quiet privacy. Pure bliss by careful, subtle design. Joanne and I woke one morning to see half a dozen deer grazing in your backyard. Our sudden presence didn't faze them in the slightest. After all, we were weekend guests; they owned the place!
But our short sojourn there, at that particular time, was bittersweet. Mixed in with the beautiful setting, some gourmet meals, and a lot of relaxed being with each other... We had gathered to honor the memory of Jonathan Buckley Hernandez. That's the name Sharon and Victor gave their unborn baby who died during labor last August. At 5 months, he weighed just 1 pound, 1 ounce. The little guy was diagnosed in the womb with a host of physical problems which, had he survived, would have made his life extremely difficult. Our Sea Ranch Saturday, December 8, would have been his due date. So we spent some time that morning talking, praying, hugging, and grieving my daughter and son-in-law's loss. In a setting so serene and wildly gorgeous it feels like a little corner of God's Heaven.
With us that weekend was Victor's family dog Pepper. A black Lab, now gone gray, she was 20 years old! She was gimpy and leaky, and now suffered frequent siezures as well. Victor and his mom took turns all weekend lightly lifting her core with a bedsheet so she could take short walks and do her business. Watching that procedure (mostly the short walks part), I felt such a sadness for all three of them and simultaneously great respect for their mutual devotion.
Two days after Christmas, though, Sharon and Victor made the painful decision to have Pepper euthanized. Joanne and I joined them at the Point Isabel dog park, on El Cerrito's bay shore. There, waiting for the veterinarian to arrive, Sharon lay with Pepper by the open rear door of a borrowed minivan. Like two spoons they were, Sharon leaning up a bit to stroke Pepper's twitching head or rub her shoulder and side. Their view through the doorway took in the expanse of San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge centered on the horizon. At last, the vet drove up, spoke briefly with Sharon and Victor, and administered the required shots to poor old Pepper. Joanne and I watched the whole procedure, which lasted about 5 minutes. Our sadness lightened a bit when the vet (who looked all of 23) stood up silently with one single tear running down her cheek. So humane, so in touch and deeply touching, in her tender loving care.
I hope you will forgive an aging father's self-indulgence here, briefly lowering his heart and mind into sorrow's warm sweet waters. My kids have suffered two great losses this year. Their faith and love, for God and for each other, sustains them even while they grieve. My faith and love, for God and for each of them, believes their present and future blessings will outweigh by far these and all misfortunes.
And so I pray for Sharon and Victor, for each of you, and for all of us together: A happy, blessed new year touched each new day with the grace and peace of God!
Here's a promise we can trust and live by in 2008:
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,
plans for your welfare and not for harm,
to give you a future with hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11)
posted by Jack Buckley at
12:51 PM
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