Facebook is very good about reminding us about anniversaries if you check in regularly.
I’m trying to curb my FB appetite, but some days I am thankful for the reminders.
For instance, today my son posted a very sweet picture of myself and baby Andrew, taken and posted five years ago. I love this picture! We had travelled a long way to meet this new little grandson, and it was a delight.
Mixed in with the memories of that week five years ago, was a phone-call we received while in South Carolina, that my mother had been hospitalized and was being transferred to hospice. We were so torn!
We were celebrating new life, but also feeling that we should be home, present with my mom. I remember the FaceTime chat with her that week where she told us fiercely (as only my mother could) that we were to stay and enjoy our time. She promised, and I don’t know how she could, but she did… that she would be around when we returned.
And she was… for three more precious months as we all prepared for her home-going. My dad reminded us for those days this week. He is meticulous in keeping a diary, and has records going back to when he was eighteen! He e-mailed us this week telling us he was re-reading that diary of five years ago, those bitter-sweet moments we shared as a family. It is in those moments indeed we recognize the fragility of life, the preciousness of family.
As I am present to many others who are in the midst of saying good-bye on this earth, these memories stay with me, the lessons we learned still help me to understand, to be empathetic, to practice compassion.
Just this morning another memory came up, one that always stirs my heart quite literally… it is seven years ago TODAY that I entered into the hospital with weird symptoms… to find out I was having a significant heart attack. I remember well thinking that it wasn’t good timing, and perhaps they were wrong?
The incredible part of that week seven years ago was that my dad was also in ICU, with severe complications after surgery, and for a few days, we were in the same ward. Crazy memories. Recently he turned 87, and we are grateful for his return to health!
I don’t take my health for granted. Every day is a precious gift, and I pray often that God would guard my heart and teach me how to live wisely with the body I have.
Every day a blessing, and so many opportunities to love, to share, to make a difference.
It is good to look back and remember,
good to celebrate today,
good to plant the seeds of hope for tomorrow.
