“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” – Juliana of Norwich

Every time we take Sadie to the hospital for something outpatient and routine and non-invasive, I feel humbled by and maybe a little ashamed of the gratitude I feel. We’re not staying, I think, as I watch bald children in bathrobes being pushed in wheelchairs or parents with worried faces cradling little ones in their arms. I can’t imagine what they might be going through, even though I’ve been there under duress.

The other morning we made one of those ordinary visits. But while we sat in the big waiting room waiting to register, something extraordinary happened. It didn’t start out that way: a hospital employee came up and asked me if I thought it was too hot. Obviously, she was warm and wanted to gather a consensus so the air could be turned up. Was I hot? “Well, let’s just say I’m not cold,” I said, winking at her. She chuckled. Sitting behind me, the lady holding an infant had a different answer: “All is well.” She kept repeating it, chanting it almost.

“All is not well,” the hospital lady said, her tone suddenly shifting. “What if I told you my mother is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s?” My head was spinning. How did these two get here from a conversation about the temperature in the waiting area?

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Abwûn
Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes,

d’bwaschmâja
who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.

Nethkâdasch schmach
May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.

Têtê malkuthach.
Your Heavenly Domain approaches.

Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d’bwaschmâja af b’arha.
Let Your will come true – in the universe
just as on earth.

Hawvlân lachma d’sûnkanân jaomâna.
Give us wisdom for our daily need,

Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikâna
daf chnân schwoken l’chaijabên.
detach the fetters of faults that bind us,
like we let go the guilt of others.

Wela tachlân l’nesjuna
Let us not be lost in superficial things,

ela patzân min bischa.
but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.

Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l’ahlâm almîn.
From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,
the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.

Amên.
Sealed in trust, faith and truth.

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Thomas Wolfe says it can’t be done: I’ve always agreed. But I didn’t have those kinds of expectations for this trip to Louisville to see my brother, the only one of the Krainer clan who still lives here.

After all, I only lived in Louisville during breaks from college and then for a few months after graduate school. But, before they moved away, my parents spent almost 20 years here—that’s a lot of visits. A lot of memories.

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“There is no place like home for real comfort.” ~ Jane Austen

Each one of the five of us is bleary-eyed after a fun-filled week at the beach with the Boggs clan—seventeen of us under one roof. Back at our house, children too old for naps are asking for them before lunch, the husband is not his normally humorous self, and I’ve got spoons cooling in the freezer to later try to remedy the bags under my eyes.

The air conditioner is at war with the dryer, which has been running continuously all day, and the twins are at war with each other.

I feel like I’ve pulled an all-night study session in college. But tired of body is better than tired of spirit, Bess Streeter Aldrich once wrote (I’m paraphrasing), and though I’m exhausted, I’m feasting on our homecoming, as I often do.

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