"D Day"

The day that has been haunting my bride for sometime now.  The day that, no matter how optimistic I tried to be, I knew would bring tears.  While -logically- this should not be unlike any other day away from our son, it soon became apparent that something was in fact different.  Final preparations had been made the night before.  An overwhelming sense of the somber mood overshadowed Dallas' victory over Green Bay.  Although I had attempted to achieve normalcy in our Sunday night routine, it was obvious that "normalcy" would not be tolerated.  A quiet goodnight led to a purposeful sleep.  The morning would bring an additional process to our already busy routine.  And then it happened.  The time had arrived.  The walk to the front entrance that can only be likened to a funeral procession. . . the longer goodbye. . . the obvious need of a grieving mother to be comforted. . .the tears that needed to fall.  While -logically- this should not be unlike any other day, logic is not always consulted in such situations.  Instead, the natural order of things would take over.  

It became clear that logic would give way to emotion and that this mother's current struggle would be much the same as those that preceded her.  The struggle to reconcile the desire for time to stand still with the wish for her son to grow into what God has created him to be.  The struggle that would consume her workday, turning it into what would feel like an eternity.  The sort of struggle that would re-write history and make one forget the original D-day of June 6th 1944.  Instead, D-day has become September 22nd 2008.  That most terrible "D" that could only stand for Day Care.