There's been a lot of illness and death in my world these last several weeks, none of it directly pertaining to me. Dear friends have lost their loved ones or have their spouses facing an uncertain future with various bodily intrusions. One friend lost a well-respected student after she had a seizure in the bath and drowned. An inconceivable loss. Her mother, my friend has said, would not let go the girl's coffin. Her hand remained on its panel through the duration of the service and as it rested at the funeral home until someone finally transported it to its final destination, leaving the mother with an empty palm grasping forever toward her daughter, gone.

Perhaps God's had a spring cleaning and sent several souls back to earth to be born again into a lifetime of lessons, learned and denied. There must be a lot of restless wings in heaven in need of angels to help them fly.