Standing at the Gates of Hell

Yea, though I have walked through the Valley of Death (repeatedly and at constant great personal risk), I fear no evil (as I've looked it straight in the eye on far too many occasions). I have come out on the other side (virtually) unscathed. My dear, dear readers, I come to you today, not as a God(dess), but as a mortal woman who has survived a fifteen month stint at 'Hell'.

These links are to previous pages where I have discussed various aspects of my FORMER ordeal. But those days, my dear, dear friends, are now over. And even as the now faint memories, of far too many days in 'Hell', have begun dissolving around the edges, soon they will be gone altogether.

It was just this past Wednesday evening, when I received my reprieve. My key to the gate. My pass to freedom. I'd scheduled a meeting with the residents, as we had reached the deadline to turn over to building to them. And I was as delighted as I could be about it, too. You betcha!! Eager, I was, to hand over all of the woes of a construction job gone terribly, terribly bad.

It took three of us to carry all of the items, but I'd have recruited as many as need be, were three not enough. And once there, I began working my way down the list I'd prepared, gifting item after item to the residents, until there were no more sacrificial offers left to give.

Though, I had toyed with the idea of having a little keg party at my place afterwards...you know, anyone who had ever had anything to do with 'Hell', except for the residents (and any employees of Larry, Moe and Curly Construction), in the end, it just felt...I don't know...blasphemous. Having finally been given the means and opportunity to escape from the pits of despair, I had no desire to risk said escape on anything as preventable as irreverence.

There was no sacramental wine or communion wafers at the meeting. No crosses (in either position). No religious artifacts at all, actually. No mystical words uttered. And yet, it was as if the burdening yoke I'd been issued in 'Hell' was miraculously lifted from my long-suffering shoulders. The serenity that I now know, the calm that I feel, are all that remains from my time there.

I don't expect that the spawn of 'Hell' will ignore me completely. As it were, I received a call today. The horrific screeching on the other end made clear that fact. The difference is, not every problem will be mine to handle now. Not every crisis mine to resolve. Not every sin mine to bear.

Hallelujah! Say it with me, brothers and sisters!