A Weekend to Forget

Tonight was thr visitation and rosary, tomorrow is the funeral mass, and in a few days after will be the graveside service. My brother in law was Catholic. That is how they do it. Tonight, at the open casket visitation, the shell was there but the soul and spirit were gone. I barely recognized him without his huge smile, making the somber shell of him appear many years older than the 77 year old he was. There was immense sadness for he was the eldest of 8 and by far the most accepting and happy. He welcomed everyone into the family and represented them well as far as hospitality goes. In fact, if you were a pretty woman, you were maybe too heartily welcomed? But I digress. Today, with 2 siblings unable to attend due to distance and health, the remaining 5 were here and all the families celebrated the life of and mourned the loss of Mike LaLonde. He and his wife were miraculously married for over 50 years and she will miss him greatly.

The rosary was said tonight and my upbringing was not Catholic, so I just listened. The repetition was mind numbing. Same words repeated over and over, same prayers. Did they think God did not hear the first time? Is my Savior hearing impaired? I wondered at this. Why pray to Mary? The Bible never says to do this. I do not understand, I guess, not having grown up in the Catholic faith.

I asked the wife how she was doing and she said, “I want to get through this and forget this weekend”. And I feel her. I understand. Just get through it. Forget. Try to live for the remaining family, for kids and grandkids. Just get through and forget and heal from the enormous rift in the physical and emotional self. Just breathe. Be. Forget. Forget every day for over 50 years coming home to that big smile. Vacations. Fishing trips. Illnesses and recoveries. Happy occasions. Family events. Forget all that? No, to celebrate all that by forgetting the goodbye. Forgetting the bad- for there always is bad. Letting that go and forgiving it. Releasing it. Forgetting on purpose.

Just a jumble of thoughts. Good to see family but good to forget why we saw them. Get to celebrating life. Many still to love here. Many to reach for Jesus. We need to get to that.❤

Just Be Ready

My husband’s oldest brother has been in the hospital but was getting better, was on the mend. He passed last night, however. And it was a reminder for the entire family to just be ready. Don’t put off repentence. Don’t put off humble prayer. Don’t put off worshipping God with your life. Don’t think you have more time to get your spiritual house in order for death sneaks up. Who knows if his pornography addiction was addressed by him before God. We do not know. God knows. I do pray it is so. Yes, he was a good man and took good care of his family but God wants to be first and only He knows the heart. He knows all our hearts intimately. Don’t gamble with eternity. The message for us all is to just be ready. When this frail life is gone, eternity remains and that is what this life is supposed to prepare for and determine. Just be ready.❤

Sobering Thought

Today my second cousin passed away. She was a mom of two, husband of one and was only 51 years old. She had beat breast cancer and had been in remission for 7 plus years. All of a sudden, she got sick and it was all over her body and in two weeks she was gone. She was absolutely beautiful with a happy, cheerful disposition. I had hoped to see her again but will have to wait a bit now. It is sobering when someone close to you and close to your age dies. It is not the first time. We are never promised tomorrow, some hypothetical construct. We have today. We must make the most of it with that eternal perspective. We need to be ready and close to Jesus. There is no fear close to Him and no insecurity either. Stay close to God and kiss and love your loved ones as often as possible. Live today. Love today.❤

So The Funeral is Tomorrow

My good friend buries her husband tomorrow. Her husband that had no life insurance because he was 47 and not expecting to die. She was not expecting it either. A 47 year old body just shuts down. Who would expect such a thing? And yet here we are. And tomorrow we will all cry together and let her know we support her and are here for her. And I will visit more often for she will be lonely and sad for a while. I have been where she is and will be able to be sad with her and make the most with her and hopefully that helps. The easier part of it is that he was a Christian so we know he is in heaven. ❤