What Is A Day?....

 Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

Thursday is the 5th day of the week according to the Judeo Christian calendar. It falls between Wednesday and Friday. The name is derived from Old English to mean Thunor's Day. Thunor or Thor are derived from the god of thunder. In Latin, it means the Roman god, Jupiter who was the god of sky and thunder. In the Christian tradition, Maundy Thursday this the Thursday before Easter or when the Last Supper occurred. Ascension Thursday is 40 days after Easter, when Christ ascended into heaven. In Thailand the color for Thursday is orange.

A baby girl was born on a Thursday at 11:52pm. Heather probably had other events happen in her life on a Thursday. But the event that started her life happened on a Thursday.  When Heather was a baby I used to count how many weeks old she was on each Thursday; 1 week, 4 weeks and 6 weeks. By this point mothers usually begin to count the months instead of the weeks. It is a joyous time to count off the weeks and months of how old your baby is. Soon it is not weeks and months, but it is years.

A 20 year old girl was diagnosed with cancer on a Thursday at 3:49pm. Counting the weeks of treatment for cancer is not nearly as fun to do. But each week in treatment is one more week that Heather was alive and in remission. Counting the weeks till treatment was finished and life could begin again. Nearly ever time Heather was admitted to begin chemo it was on a Thursday. Counting days in the hospital till we could go home. Counting the days that we had at home, till we had to go back again. Days and weeks marked by doctor appointments and blood transfusions. The few moments that life seemed to be normal was counted in days and not weeks during treatment.

 A very sick and feverish 21 year old girl was admitted to Banner Baywood for the last time on a Thursday at about 12:30pm. This hospital stay would be counted in hours, days and nights. It moved very slowly as the days turned into long nights and then into weeks. There are many major events that happened during this time with Heather. It was a Thursday when she collapsed her lung for the 1st time.  But none more significant than Thursday, April 16th when Heather collapsed her lung for the last time. She was down for over an hour. I truly believe in my heart that she died that day. Her body just didn't let go till the 20th. How ironic that Heather's life began on a Thursday and the person known as Heather stopped being Heather on a Thursday.

Monday is the 2nd day of the week and 1st day of the work week. It is between Sunday and Tuesday. It is derived from Middle and Old English to mean day of the moon. In Eastern Orthodox Churches Monday is the day that angels are commemorated. Mondays are observed as fasting days. They are seen as days of depression, anxiety and melancholy. Garfield the cat hates Mondays as bad things happen to him on Monday. Monday aligns with the celestial body, the Moon, and the astrological sign of Cancer.

 A remarkable 21 year old young woman died on a Monday. Leave it to Heather to have to pick a different day to die on. Every Monday for weeks and months after Heather died would be devastating for me. Every Monday it would all come flooding back into my memory the events that happened on that day. I once again counted weeks but on Mondays this time instead of Thursdays. But this time it didn't stop at 6 weeks. It kept going; 24 weeks, 38 weeks and 90 weeks this past Monday. (But who is counting right?). These days, weeks and months since Heather died have not been fun or joyful. Mondays come along and no one has a clue why or what I am feeling. The sadness still hits on Mondays and I think it will forever.

What I've got they used to call the blues

Nothin' really wrong, feelin' like I don't belong

Walkin' around, some kind of lonely clown

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

~The Carpenters~