TGIW!

Only 2 sleeps -- it'll be Friday, and I'll be Off! Yes, I have some lab tests (including my first bone density exam), but in between I plan to sew and do Xmas Cards and visit my fave bookstore/cafe for the Winter edition of "SpinOff" and the January "O" mag. I've previewed same, and I'm buyin'! Delicious reading for my Christmas Holidays, which start Dec. 19.

On the Finishing Front, I've finished the scarf for Mom, except to sew in the ends, so now my stack includes 2 scarves and the side seams of the BNS for my DD. I have started a pair of fingerless gloves for my DS, using the process taught in the Winter edition of Interweave Knits....using some bright red wool from my stash. I bought it on a visit to Yorkshire, UK, a decade or so ago...

A Prayer for Trust

My DS called late last evening, fraught with hurt and confusion. He'd been assaulted by a tough young woman who, with her boyfriend and another fellow, followed him off the bus at his stop, about 1/2 block from his college boarding house. Apparently, in looking around while on the bus, he'd caught the eye of this young woman, and she'd decided he was flirting with her, and she didn't like it one little bit. She punched him in the face, and left his lip swollen and his nose bloody, but then one of the fellows with her intervened and told DS simply to "go home" -- which he did, as fast as his legs would allow.

His landlady was still up, and offered support, encouraging him to call the police. He fears doing so, of course, because he might be more severely attacked for "ratting" on his assailant. All of this left him feeling violated and insecure, and longing for home. Exams have been tough, and this was the last straw. There I was, at the other end of the line, wishing that he could feel the hug across the wires, wanting to 'fix' the situation by throttling that little *!!@@@**!!...

Eventually he calmed down, and I could hear some strength and resolve returning to his voice. He determined that he would not let someone bully him into leaving school down there. He hung up with plans to call one of his buds in res, who'd buck him up I know (despite the late hour). I went to bed and wept.

O Lord, support us all the day long of this troubelous life, until the shades lengthen and the evening comes, and the buisy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work done. Then, Lord, in Thy mercy, grant us safe lodgeing, a holy rest, and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen -- Sixteenth Century Prayer