Blogging Twice in a Day... Sometimes Not a Good Sign

It is with great sadness that I add this latest post. If you read my blog, you know that I used to work for the school system in my county. I attended the funeral today for one of my former co worker's husband at the school that I once worked for. He was MY AGE!! For Pete's sake... are we dropping like flies, or am I zooming towards this end soon? She is a terrific lady, full of life and a wonderful person in her own right. I had waited on her and her husband at my restaurant. He was an absolute happy guy, who loved his wife and kids, a real "GO Getter" who owned his own transmission shop, and raced cars on the side. Perfectly healthy....he woke up on Sunday morning to cook breakfast for his wife. He felt a twinge of "heartburn" ...and before you know it, she was calling 911. He had a massive heart attack, and was gone from her life in a few short minutes. Nothing to do now, nothing can help...go to the funeral home, hug her.. and tell her what you already know (from my TOO frequent experiences with death). He is gone, he is NO MORE. She is left with kids, a shop that she doesn't know how to run, and a heart full of grief, and a burden that I am sure she thinks that she cannot bear. I want to console her, but she is still in a state of shock. I want to tell her that..."NO, it will NEVER be the same.... but on a small, day by day time period....it will eventually get to a point that you can live with the pain, and it WILL ease at some long destination down the road." Losing a loved one is one of the things that I have learned to deal with. I lost my Mom when I was 17. I lost my Dad to West Nile Virus when I was in my mid forties. It NEVER, EVER gets easier. But this is the time that you need to take the whole big picture into focus. Do you want your beloved to suffer? Do you want them to hurt? Or do you just say to yourself... It is in YOUR hands, God...help me to be strong...help me to somehow carry on... help me to remember the man that I loved, how much joy he brought to our lives, and THANK YOU for letting me have him for as long as you did. It is probably nothing that she wants to hear now... but is a lesson that she will gradually and unfortunately succumb to as I have. Death is a HORRIBLE experience, one that I do not wish on anyone.. but one that forces us to look at our lives, and realize that NOTHING is a given. Cherish every moment you have, remember to tell the person that you love , that you DO in fact love them... and live your life to the fullest. And when you do, in fact lose a loved one, think of how different your life would have been without them in your life at all. No one said it would be easy... but no one told us that it would be this hard. It was a wonderful turnout for this man, and a tribute to how many lives he touched. I just hope that his wife can find her way to realize that even though this horrible thing happened to her and her family.... how much worse it would have been to not have had him touch their lives as he did, or to have not have had him at all. Of course for now, they are in shock and total grief... but not only have you lost a loved one.... you were lucky to have had him, and lucky that he loved you the consummate way that he did.. and know that right now, he is preparing to sit on your shoulder every day and be in your dreams every night. You may not be able to see or touch him... but he will be in your heart, and he will watch you from above. Death does NOT become us, but it is an unfortunate part of life, and one that we will ALL face one day. I will think about you daily, and pray for your recovery from losing your loved one. Heaven must be bursting at the seams by now.... We will see them all again one day...I know!!