Sunday, January 1, 2017

The journey of a week.

Where does one start?  

I suppose the logical answer is the beginning 
but I am not sure where the beginning is....

Perhaps we should just start at the end.
We closed the chapter on 2016 last night along with all of you. 

The irony of that is 
we also drove home last night from Sidney 
as we closed the final chapter of Mickie's, Mark's mom's, life. 
The end of a year. 
The end of a life. 

Her life and her death is not my story to tell. 

Tonight at our house as we settled back in,  a candle flickers on the table.  A reminder of a life lived.




Cancer can be an evil beast. 

It has been exactly one week. 
On Christmas Day my dad said we had to come outside and see the brightest rainbow any of us had ever seen. I was in awe. The rainbow itself was so defined. Glowing almost.  I have never seen a rainbow this glorious. The picture just doesn't do it justice. 
We knew that day, Mickie  was not feeling well and 
we knew her journey in this life was coming to an end. 
As we marveled at the beauty of this rainbow on Christmas day I just knew. I thought to myself....Mickie is saying goodbye. I didn't say it out loud. I knew Mark would look at me like I was half-crazy and it was Christmas day so I just thought it to myself. 



It would only be a couple hours later that we got the call. 
Mickie's life here on this Earth had ended.

She was a woman who excelled with numbers so reflecting back on that now perhaps it is no coincidence that we are looking at a pattern of 1 weeks time.

One weekend before Christmas. Exactly one week from the day she passed we said goodbye not knowing for sure if there would be another. 



The changes were undeniable.

An extended Thanksgiving weekend had only been but a couple weeks before.




As we all know, our lives are not guaranteed. 
None of us know if this will be our last New Years,
our last Christmas
our last Thanksgiving
our last demo derby to cheer on our son proudly...



Our last trip back to visit family and catch a game....



We can't know. 
I don't think I want to know. 
Would she have wanted to know?


I've spent the last week helping plan a funeral and reading numerous cards expressing their sympathy and recounting how Mickie touched their lives.
Maybe it was because of Christmas..
Maybe it was because of the New Year coming...
Maybe it was because we were saying goodbye...
But as I read each card I wondered...did she know?
Many of the cards were sent by people I have never met so I have no way of knowing but it left me wondering all the same. 
Did she know her impact on your life?  
We set aside time to say goodbye as people leave our lives but do we set aside time to let others know what they mean to us in the midst of living everyday?
I don't think we always do. 

I read an article the other day about setting a New Year's Intention instead of a New Year's resolution.

My challenge for you is this:
A New Year's Intention. 
In 2017, 
may you find a way to be intentional in 
expressing your gratitude 
for those in your life that impact 
who you are, 
what you do, 
where you're going,
because life is as fleeting as a rainbow.




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