Family and Loss

I'm not going to lie...it was difficult getting up this morning. My back is aching, I have a migraine due to icky barometric changes, and the prospect of rising to attend a funeral on this blustery day...did not sound like any fun.

But, I am nothing if not obligated to the people I love and whom love me. And, while the funeral had nothing to do with me (other than by friendship and professional relationships), it impacted me so profoundly.

I think the biggest thing going into today was how foreign watching someone lose a parent is to me. In fact (don't judge me!!!), I would barter with the life of my own mother for most people. If God himself came down with such an offer, you can bet that I would exclaim "Sold!" Because, you clearly have something with your loved one that I never experienced. But, it doesn't work like that and for that, I'm truly sorry. I wish it did.

Though I ache for them, my friends in their loss. Today was beautiful. I say this because, this funeral, celebration of life, sermon, and fellowship...filled a space that I didn't know was missing. The music came from souls and emotion that ran so deep. The tears flowed. But, so did the laughter. There were babies illustrating new life amidst this loss.

Most of all this family, amidst their loss; shared their love with us. They shared with us what it was like to always have enough (enough food, enough love, enough laughter) in a family with 11 children!!! As a struggling mother of two, I have always struggled to provide. And, here in this moment of loss...this family reminded me that in their family, there was always enough. Always. Ryan, Julia and I stopped by the home where the repast was hosted post service. We were greeted by many. We were offered food and drink, love, and friendship from those we'd barely just met. I thought we were there to console them, yet they were in fact ministering to us.

I wept during the service when a beautiful woman spoke of how she didn't know what family was until she was invited into this particular family. I don't have 11 siblings. I don't have a mother or a father. But, I can truly say that I know what family feels like. And, though I know my friends will miss both of their parents moment to moment, day to day, breath to breath...they will also feel a love that is beyond death and not of this world.