The New Normal?

I'm not quite ready to call it a firm tradition, but it does seem that lately the holy days are being spent in very literal ways. There was the Winter Solstice that I spent helping a dear friend give birth. Now there's the Samhain that I spent planning my husband's grandmother's funeral. She passed from this world on the 28th, and the funeral had to be delayed for several reasons. Early on the morning of the 31st, I woke to a phone call from a crematorium in Tennessee saying that my mother's father (the man discussed here) had died at 4:40am and could I please send money for his cremation? And so the day was spent sorting out those details, and most of my plans had to be cancelled. The first, second, and third days of November were spent in vigil over my husband's grandmother until she found her way to the beyond. And the so the plans for those days were altered too. Still, it seems that the holy days were spent as they were meant to be.