i cannot believe it has been five days!
my best friend's mother died this week. she had a heart attack last friday and we buried her this friday. another funeral. almost the same anniversary as my own dear mother's death. my precious friend, anne, is struggling so much with this. it has really taken her by surprise and i have spent almost all of my free time the last week being with her and helping her through this.
the funeral was interesting.
Sr. Pastor and i went together to the church ... amazing RC ceremony, i just LOVE the liturgy .. and to the cemetery. she was 87 and now there were very few people left to go to her funeral. what a small group we were standing in the cold wind around the coffin and committing her to her resting place.
interesting ... the emotions.
many other funerals remembered. tears shed for a woman i barely knew and for a woman i love as much as i ever could love a sister and a friend.
from where dear josephine is buried, if you just turn and look over the hill, you will see where my dear mother was buried, 13 years ago, almost to the day. we buried her the monday after mother's day. sigh.
there i was, standing .. well attempting to stand on my crutch ...
wondering ... what is it in the dash. you know the one, between birth and death. josephine macdonald. april 18, 19.. - may 10, 2005. that dash. it represented her life, her children, her joys, her sorrows, her failures, her successes. and on the gravestone, it is only a dash. i wondered about the person who would chisel that dash. does he ever wonder what it represented?
what will mine represent? what will yours represent?
i asked pastor if he would mind driving me over to my mom's grave. there we hobbled on the soft ground, the trip well worth the additional damage to my ankle (more on that later) to stand at the grave.
more of my family is represented in that plot than i have contact with right now.
uncle = 1942
grandfather = 1972
grandmother = 1985
brother = 1987
mother = 1992
aunt = 2002
i didn't even realize that my aunt had been buried there a few years ago. no one told me she had died.
all those dashes. pastor didn't know any of them, but i sure did. memories flooded my mind. sweet ones, sad ones ...
oh Lord, please take these remaining days, no matter how long and make them matter for you.
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this is an amazing, thought-provoking thread. i may link to it on my blog (with your permission, well, at least i'll give you props...) because it is quite profound, my dear.
quite.
certainly, you may link it my friend. i am honoured. i am also glad that it caused you to reflect a moment or two. it sure did me.
WAS ANNE'S MOTHER SAVED?
she most certainly was ... the Priest spoke fondly of her love for Jesus in the homily. it was precious to hear him talk about her. really precious funeral for sure.
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