Metaphorically Speaking.

Warning:

This blog post contains something reflective, and quite possibly sad.

Do not, I repeat,

do not continue reading if you are only interested in happy thoughts and light-hearted things.

Yesterday, I heard a great metaphor for how I'm feeling right now.

When my friend had recently lost her Mom,

she was driving down an icy road and her car started sliding.

The car slid sideways, and continued down the road,

but wasn't in any danger of hitting anything.

"This is like my life", she thought.

I'm progressing forward.

Time is moving forward.

My life is going on.

But, it's not straight.

I'm not in control.

It's not dangerous, but things just aren't right.

They're a little sideways.

Wow. This really struck me as she said it.

It's exactly how I feel right now.

I'm trying to get things straight after losing my Dad.

I'm making corrections - some slight, some drastic, trying to do my 'normal' things...

I'm pumping the brakes, that doesn't work.

I give it some gas, that doesn't work.

I'm progressing. Moving down the road. Moving forward in time.

But, things are sideways.

I recognize that everyone has a different grief process,

and you can't know how you will handle something until you are going through it.

I know to give myself grace through the process.

I'm just getting a little impatient with this sideways slide and want my car to go STRAIGHT.