Bethany, Hans and I are off to Chicago
tomorrow for Opa's funeral. He passed away Wednesday morning, after
a lengthy duration of dialysis and a life of living with diabetes. I
only mention this because now – for those of us who know he's in
heaven – he will have an eternal life free of pain, with his mother
and brother, and all his other family. It's still sad; I told
Bethany and Hans that losing a loved one is – possibly – the most
difficult thing to do in life. For most of us, we're never ready to
say goodbye; even when it means a better life for that person. It's
the selfish side of love; well, there are many selfish sides to love,
but this one is bittersweet, and comes from a caring part of our
hearts.
On the brighter side, we are extremely
grateful Obachan is recovering nicely, and that God was watching over
her when she needed help (and Richard and Michelle, too – what an
amazing daughter!). This year has started off rather rough; people
in the hospital, hospice, passing away – sickness and death. But
for all those hard things we've had to deal with, so many have been
miraculous blessings. My sister had a cancer scare that turned out
to be a poorly read mammogram; thank you, God! Josh got terribly
sick a couple weeks ago, gave it to Cody and I, but Bethany and Hans
were spared – AMEN! Whoohoo!!! Obachan got the medical help she
needed right away, and is
recovering... how wonderful!
I
apologize if this sounds a little 'preachy' (the AMEN; too much??),
but it's important to remember all the things we have to be grateful
for, and every one of you reading this is someone I'm grateful to
have in my life. So I'll be thinking of you, sending a little prayer
of love out to you, and smiling inside as I pack a black outfit to
say goodbye. Because love never really leaves – it just changes
location.