A Week of Sadness; a Week of Reminders

I don’t normally write about dark subjects. In fact, during difficult times, my journal tends to sit gathering dust, then when things are looking up, I start writing again. I’m not sure why that is, but that has been my habit for as long as I can remember. It’s not that I don’t think about the sad or dark things that come my way, but for some reason I have little interest in writing about them. But last week was a sad week for many people I care about, and I am mulling on it now.

My sister lost a very close friend who died unexpectedly. To add to her grief, they had had some misunderstanding and hadn’t spoken for a few weeks. The funeral was yesterday and was devastatingly sad for my sister. My heart aches for her.

A close friend’s cousin, with whom she’s very close, received a very grim diagnosis last week, and their whole family is reeling. My heart aches for my friend and for her family as I pray for comfort for them in this very hard time.

Another good friend lost her sister on Sunday, after a two year, very brave battle with cancer. They are thankful her pain has ended, but these sisters were very close, and the loss is great. My heart aches for this friend and her loss, and she is very much on my mind.

Yet another friend lost a friend of hers Sunday after a long and painful illness. She is relieved that he is no longer suffering, but her heart aches deeply. She is unable to attend the funeral, because of estranged relationships in their circle of mutual friends. My heart aches for this friend, too, with her double grief at losing her friend and being unable to honor him at his funeral service.

My father called a few days ago to tell me that my uncle, his younger brother, died. He had a massive stroke and died a few days later. My father had been planning on seeing him a couple of weeks from now at my uncle’s granddaughter’s wedding. I didn’t know my uncle well, but my heart aches for my father, and I am sobered at the reminder that a death in the family brings.

Then a few days ago, Steve and I were driving along and I had to suddenly pull completely off the road to avoid a head-on collision with someone who seemed to be aiming right at my car and who continued to head straight for us, despite me blowing my horn at them. It felt like a very close brush with serious injury or death, and I was shaking but very thankful to be safe.

Life is precious, as are the people in our lives. This past week has been a reminder to me to cherish the people I love and to celebrate the gifts they are in my life.