Oh, my. It’s Tuesday night, and here’s my Sunday blog entry. Two things I’ve learned about grieving: It sucks up energy and it can’t be rushed. Not good news for the impatient. Terrible news for the chronic over-booker. Forget the elaborate list-making. Halfway down, the bereaved runs out of steam. And the blog entry that was going to bloom on Sunday is now barely sliding into place Tuesday night.

I bumped into a nice analogy the other day. Creative work takes lots of energy. So does grieving. The way back is like nurturing a plant, with time and sun and water. Finally, after all that, new shoots appear.

I think this is true. My mother, a gardener, would have heavily endorsed the idea. And me? I never earned my “Curved Bar Rank” in Girl Scouts because I refused to water a plot of grass. Hopefully, I’ve learned something.