I was supposed to go into work today, a Friday.

.

Starting bright and early in the morning, I practically cleared my inbox. All artists are on track and verified. I kept pushing back my time of departure until finally I decided to just hang out at home with the family. A slow and lazy day.

.

I am over half-way through Star Trek TNG season 7.

.

In the afternoon I headed to the pool with the three older kids to give my wife a much-needed break (sure, I left her with the baby, but the baby is very mild, more on that later). That was an adventure. We had pink-frosted sugar cookies for a snack. I followed the youngest around to be sure he didn’t get into more trouble than he could handle. It was extremely crowded, probably from being a Utah holiday. G and I waited for a long time to go down the water slide, but once it was our turn they turned him away for having life-jacket inserts in his suit. He took it very well. We were there for a few hours, measured in layers of sunscreen, before a distant sighting of lightning scared up a chorus of life-guard whistles and we had to evacuate. I convinced the kids of the wisdom of heading to a local burger joint to eat and play on the playground.

.

My wife needed the time to cook dinner for a family where the mother has recently died of pneumonia. So, I kept the kids out of her hair for a few more hours. It was a young mother, younger than I by a few years, and a neighbor just down the block. My wife knew her, and was her friend and visiting teaching companion. She’s pretty shaken up. This morning (now Saturday) she headed off to the mortuary to do the make-up. After saying a short heartfelt prayer with her and another neighbor-lady I looked up to see both of them already broken up. As usual, my response will be delayed– stone-faced until everyone else is done. I think it took almost eight months when my own father died.

.

My daughter, now ten years, had some straightforward questions: What happens when one parent dies? Does the other one get remarried? I gave her straight and short answers until she seemed satisfied and went off to play. These last few weeks she will sleep in whatever room I am in, curling up on floor, chair, couch or whatever like a faithful pup.

.

On the way home from the pool, in the final leg of the journey as we made our way up a gently curving road to our home, I had a moment of bliss. Where the joy seems almost too much for the mortal frame. In front of me, the mountains loomed over a green cloud of trees. They looked to me like a Titan with long pale sandy fingers holding a moss-covered rock. To the right the storm front was moving in, making the entire mountain range disappear into pale greys and white, as if an artist had not finished the painting. In the rear-view I could see my sons, the youngest with sun-bleached hair, touseled and smiling, eyes sparkling with summery bliss as the shadows of the trees marched over him.

.

A moment when the longing for heaven is overtaken by a realization that I am already in heaven. There is a shard of it inside of me. I feel it like a cell-phone feels the cell-phone-tower. I feel the Heavens yearning for me, opening my heart’s eye skyward.