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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Farewell to a Friend

My heart is really full right now.  I just finished reading a very moving blog that has recently been started by a loving mother grieving over the loss of her little girl a couple of weeks ago.  Life and death has been on my mind a lot lately.  A very dear friend is ready to go to the other side and my thoughts have been heavy with her and now to read these touching thoughts from a mother to her daughter, wow, my heart is full.

I heard the sad news of the loss of this little girl from my grand kids.  The family is related to their Aunt's husband.  It was extremely sad news and brought back memories of when my children were young.  We lived out in the country but we had a neighbor not from from us (out of sight but not far - across the creek).  One day I was outside hanging up clothes when I heard this blood curdling scream.  It did not even sound human.  It was not until I heard the sirens that I realized something dreadful must have happened.  Their child had fallen in the pool and drowned.  The doctors managed to bring him back to life but he was never the same.  That scream has never left me.  It is truly a sound you never want to hear.  This mother's blog is beautiful.  I hope you will take a moment to read the beautiful thoughts of a loving mother.  Be sure to keep the tissues close as I doubt that anyone can read this without tears.

We have a very dear friend that is ready to cross over to the other side.  She is almost 90 and very ready to go.  I have not known her for a very long time - maybe 6 years (ever since they moved here).  She has been such an influence in my life.  She was living with her daughter and son-in-law.  She has a bad heart, bad circulation (which resulted in the recent amputation of her leg), and has needed assistance walking - but, she has a wonderful mind and a dedication to life that has been such an influence on everyone that has known her. 

Vera has been working in our Family History Center.  She said she was mostly a warm body but her presence was far more than that.  I was amazed to see this elderly lady learn a computer program called Indexing - where you extract data from things such as census records and record it into an Excel type format.  She even learned to do it in Spanish!  She loved to learn and studied Gospel subjects regularly.  She is a very determined lady.  When she sets her mind to something, it gets done.  Now she has set her mind to the fact that it's her time to go.

My husband and I visited her at the hospital before a recent surgery that has left her in this decline.  Her attitude was that she has served her purpose here on earth and now it's time to go.  After her surgery she woke very upset that she woke up on the wrong side of life.  She was anxious to meet her mother who had died when she was just a baby.  She has since elapsed into a coma and is heading to her destination.

Two lives, one very young, one very old yet both here to accomplish the same thing - to receive a body and return to our Heavenly Father.  Both have lived their lives to the fullest - their timing to go has just been different.  For those of us left here it is sad.  We will miss the young and the old but as the loving mother of that beautiful little girl said, lessons are learned (hopefully) and from them we grow. 

I think of those that have gone on and those that are still here and think about what I have or can learn from them.  There is so much to know and understand in this life and I wonder how I am doing with learning the things I need to before I return to my Father. Am I the person that I really want to be?  Am I doing everything I can to learn and grow in the ways Heavenly Father desires?  Death of the young or old remind us to take a look at how we are doing in our time here on earth.  I realize, being a senior, that I'd better hurry and get things together in my life.  There is always much to improve upon and it's time for me to survey how I am doing.

I am sad for this dear family at their loss.  I can't even imagine the pain.  We have lost loved ones when they were young but not my own children.  I know the guilt this mother is feeling.  I wish there were a way to take that away from her but there isn't...time, it just takes time.  My heart is sad for the loss of our dear friend Vera.  I know it is coming soon.  I am so grateful to have known her.  She set such an example for me.  I hope the lessons that I am learning will help me to be an example to someone else.  That we all will take the time to examine how we are doing in our stage of life and make sure we are doing all we can to prepare for the next stage.  I know the little girl was loved and she knew she was loved.  I know that Vera is loved she Knows she is loved.  Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if everyone felt that way?  We pray for these families and all of those that are hurting.  I know God does not like seeing us hurt this way but it is part of the process.  From these experiences we learn and grow.  We need to treasure the memories and learn from the examples - and Go Forward!

PS:  Thank you for the examples and the lessons!  We love you Vera! 

Note:
Today - Aug 26 - Vera passed on to the other side.  She left peacefully.  How happy she must be to finally meet her mother.

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