Yesterday we received the news that a friend from a couple of years ago had passed away. Via Facebook, his wife had kept everyone in the loop about his illness, about the hospice decision, about the constant wear and tear of caring for a failing companion . The news, as is usually the case in terminal illnesses was one of sorrow and of relief. I remember these feelings well from the time of my mother's illness and death.
So we got up this morning and are preparing to go to a wedding. That's right a wedding of a young couple that we had met when they attended a class I was teaching. They are bright and funny, loving and a little older than when we got married. It is an outdoor, thankfully early wedding in Texas. I am looking forward to it.
Yesterday I sent a Facebook note of condolences to our friend and her family and then early this morning sent a text of encouragement and congratulations to the groom. Both notes came out of a deep pool of spiritual concern and discernment. It reminded me again that this life is one of deep, dark sorrow and exhilarating joy, sometimes in the same moment. In my own way I was trying to let one family know that God loves them and we love them and on the other hand I was trying to let a young man know that...God loves him and we love him. Both of these gestures were made out of the same motivation, but to opposite ends of the human emotional spectrum.
This journey has a lot of exits and on-ramps, sometimes within just a few feet of each other.
Godspeed, we travel with folks going in a lot of different directions.
Don
1 comment:
I love all of the Jolly's and our intertwined lives. Have spent a fascinating several minutes perusing your blog as a result of today's facebook posting. Love you best, Don and Beverly. You will always be part of my life and memories. Perhaps God will throw us back together sometime!
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