A Dark Week

I've been in a funk this week. It seems like my head's been in the clouds. Many shadows are hanging over me. I suppose it started a couple weeks back when I buried my cat. Digging a grave does something to you. It was my first one. My mother is visiting my dying aunt in Washington. We get daily reports over the phone. It's a matter of time. This too hangs like a dark shadow over me. The bleak irony is that my mother's homecoming will come only with the shadow of death. I learned on Tuesday that a friend and colleague died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage. He was 32. My age. He was an amazing person filled with so much energy and life. He leaves his wife and two little girls behind. Like I said, it's been a dark week. My head has not really been in the game. Teaching is demanding. Students are demanding. I have been only half there. In LIT220 this week, we read Kafka and made some connections with the art of Edvard Munch. (How's that for a pick me up?) I find myself identifying with Munch's "The Scream." The figure screams, but I don't imagine anyone hears it. Kafka and Munch. It wasn't planned, but it was fitting. With hope next week will bring something brighter. Perhaps, I'll bring some Hallmark cards to class.