Fatigue

Today (Saturday) we had a calm day at home. We needed it. For the past 2 weeks, it seems like we've had so much to get done and hardly ever enough time to do so.

During the first week, we were trying to figure out what to do, especially regarding funeral/memorial service stuff. All this was new to us, especially how to do it in France. I'm amazed that it did all come together in 1 week. Certainly the prayers of many friends helped give energy and clarity of thought in the midst of much distress, confusion, and complete changes in plans.

My wife's parents also quickly decided to come over. It was a historic and memorable time to have all 3 of our children's living grandparents with us from Thursday noon through Monday morning. Their presence added a lot to the memorial celebration, as well as to our lives. However, there was a bit of a let down when my inlaws flew back to the U.S.

This past week, we've been trying to catch up with normal life responsibilities and activities that we fell behind on during the first week. My wife mentioned feeling especially tired on Thursday and Friday. She had to tell several people on Thursday about Jessica's departure, so that was hard and tiring on her.

It seems like we've had different meetings on most days as well. It was nice not to have anything outside on our agenda today. I finally balanced our checkbook. Tonight we went through the memory box from Jess's celebration, as well as the cards we've received.

Tomorrow we plan on going swimming at a local and heated pool as a family (and with my father) in the morning, then attending an international, English-speaking church in the early evening.

I want us to remain active, but not at a frenetic pace, during this season of readjustment. I don't want activity and busyness to be a sedative for the healthy grieving and readjusting that we need to do. And somehow we need to work it out for my wife to get away for a couple of days on her own. A friend of ours who went through a similar type of event mentioned how it was helpful that her husband would watch the kids so she had some time on her own.