Blue Thursday. . . ?

Mark and I attended a meeting tonight, after a long, busy day. I was feeling good--because I was ticking things off a "to-do" list that nearly made me cry when I wrote it all down. Seriously. 2 full pages.

Sometime this afternoon, a friend called to tell me that she would have to miss our meeting tonight because her cousin suddenly died yesterday. Her cousin was 25 years old. She leaves behind a 7-year old little girl. So sad.

Then, tonight, after my meeting, I received word on my answering machine that Ralph, a sweet man from our church, lost his battle with cancer this afternoon. He was courageous. He was strong. He was a firm believer. He loved NASCAR.

I learned the NASCAR part far too late. I mean, he used to be on a pit crew. I think that is so cool! I'm just sad to realize that I'll never get to ask him about those days.

While trying to piece together an annoucement for our church's prayer chain concerning Ralph, the phone rang. Another one of our dear church members. . .my friend Charles, who always teased me about anything he could think of. . .is not doing well at all. He is in critical condition. He may not make it through the night. He used to give me recipe books, and magazines, and articles about music. His wife is a gifted artist. She is a classy woman. She encourages me. She teaches me so much by her example. Tonight, she's at the bedside of her husband.

It's a Blue Thursday. Even if Blue Thursday doesn't really exist.

Then I realized my recent blog posts have been about days. . . which led me to think about this poem. I've read it many times. I've even considered using it for scrapbooking purposes, but haven't figured out how I'd use it. . . until today.

Monday's Child
Author Unknown

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for its living,

And a child that's born on the Sabbath day

Is blithe and bonny and good and gay.

I've got a Tuesday's Child.
I've got a Thursday's Child.

Edison is my Tuesday baby. He is full of grace. He is full of compassion. He is full of enthusiasm. He is just full.

Caroline is my Thursday girl.

I refuse to look at that and stereotypically categorize her because of a diagnosis of Down syndrome. Instead, I'm turning that glass to "half-full" mode, and saying that yes, she might have a tougher road than some others, but she'll get there.

She has already overcome hurdles that most children don't have to struggle to overcome. She walks. She talks. She tries to climb over the back of the sofa -- it's not up against a wall. She counts (skips the number 4) and she fills in the last word of each page of her favorite books.

She has far to go.......but by cracky*, she's gonna get there. And we'll throw a party. . . on a Thursday!

*To my more sensitive readers. . . .the phrase "by cracky" has been running through my head for the past couple of days. I never heard it before moving to Tennessee. When I use it I feel like a true southerner. Grits, anyone?