Because of this nasty cold I'm not sleeping well. I slept fitfully last night until 3 a.m. when I gave up and came out to my chair where I'd hoped being vertical would help me breathe. Nope.
Then my mind got going.
Yesterday I posted something on Facebook that generated several responses from a variety of people and it was fun to read their input. Some who posted were former students, some are colleagues, and some acquaintances.
Sometimes when I see a person's name on FB it elicits a response in my gut, and that happened yesterday.
E attended our church in AZ with her daughter who was about 2 when they started coming. E's husband (and the girl's daddy) is in the military and typically gets stationed overseas for months at a time doing work that doesn't allow him to take his wife with him.
Some people stay in your head years later while others stay in your heart. E is the latter. Their daughter was born with multiple very serious physical and mental issues and required 24 hour care. She could not stand, crawl, speak, feed herself or do much of anything else. She could express joy or anger through guttural squeals that E understood, had a particular toy that she wanted ALL the time, but other than that she seemed to me at least to be disengaged from her surroundings. She sat in her carrier seat and functioned at the level of a child a few months old.
I have never seen, and I'm sure will never see, a mother who loved her child more than E loved that little girl. E took care of her daughter's every need every hour of every day. And absolutely doted on her. E would readily admit that she sometimes got upset with her daughter, got tired and frustrated. But she was always there giving perfect care. At one point they fitted her with glasses that seemed to help her see her surroundings better. I'll never forget the joy E showed at this blessing for her little girl.
They were with us for a couple of years before E's husband came home from overseas and was transferred to a base in WA. That was great for them because they were both from a small town close by and could spend time with family.
A year or so later I got a call from E asking me if I would come up to do the funeral for their daughter who was, I think, about five when she died. She got a cold that turned into pneumonia, and that led to her death a few days later.
No hesitation!! I was humbled and honored to do that service and hustled my way up to NW Washington.
I wondered what I'd find when I got there. I would have understood if, almost expected that E and her husband would have felt a sense of relief at their daughter's passing. A 24/7/365 burden greater than most of us will ever bear had been lifted.
They were both devastated. Absolutely and fully overcome with grief. I spent quite a bit of time with them before the service and have honestly never seen anyone more saddened by a death. I got to know E's husband because of the time we spent together there (we'd only met a few times prior to that). While E carried the primary load of care her husband was equally overcome at his dear daughter's passing.
I was and am humbled by E's example of unconditional love that was expressed in faithful and sacrificial service. I've told her that. She serves as a model of what it means to love your child without regard for their abilities or potential. I am in awe.
From time to time our paths cross on FB. I sure hope that some day our paths cross in real life, not just the virtual world. She's one of the people God has used to teach me, to remind me how easy I have it and how little I've been pushed in life.
I hope I get to look in on those two parents and their daughter when they meet up in eternity. Because I'm old enough to be a parent to E and her husband I'll probably beat them home, so maybe God will let me watch that reunion. Wouldn't that be wonderful?!
Yeah, I'd love that.
No comments:
Post a Comment