Stories and a Taste of Heaven
I have been thinking some about Jodie's comment about the dinner I went to with my dad providing a glimpse of Heaven. What a beautiful and spot on comment...
How many stories are interwoven in your life? How many paths cross? How many times have you felt or thought a chapter of your life was complete, when an epilogue ended up being written?
I have been thinking more about my chance yet destined meeting with Marilyn Horne Wednesday night of this week. She knew the heart of my aunt and uncle, but especially my uncle who so tenderly took care of my aunt (yes, great aunt, but they were always Uncle George and Tante Lisbeth) and my grandmother too during her declining years.
When my aunt needed more assistance and care than my uncle was able to provide for her, he hired live in help who provided the same level of love and care that he himself had. And after my aunt died, Sylvia remained on and eventually married my uncle.
It causes me to pause and think about the care my mom may require down the line. Unfortunately I don't see the same tender approach from my dad. But that may change.
My mother wasn't particularly thrilled with this and at times was negative about the progression of life and events. So a huge part of the gift of Marilyn's personal memories the other night were to remind me of my uncle who lived and loved with care and devotion. And did so towards the end of his life with a woman who respected and cared for my aunt as if she were family. That too is a gift.
I spoke to my dad this afternoon, and he was in the process of gathering copies of family photos of my aunt and uncle to give to Marilyn Horne; a reciprocity of sorts. A gift of an inside look at friends she held dear and admired. I continue to reflect and allow my heart to be touched by the sincere, caring and honoring words she spoke of my uncle. I am only beginning to realize now what the window his life opened for me revealed. But for him to be gone so long (since 1986) and be allowed another look was truly a bit of heaven.
There have been other delights and "coincidental" meetings and synchronicities, weaving together of unlikely lives and friendships that startle and amaze.
Have you had experiences like that?
How many stories are interwoven in your life? How many paths cross? How many times have you felt or thought a chapter of your life was complete, when an epilogue ended up being written?
I have been thinking more about my chance yet destined meeting with Marilyn Horne Wednesday night of this week. She knew the heart of my aunt and uncle, but especially my uncle who so tenderly took care of my aunt (yes, great aunt, but they were always Uncle George and Tante Lisbeth) and my grandmother too during her declining years.
When my aunt needed more assistance and care than my uncle was able to provide for her, he hired live in help who provided the same level of love and care that he himself had. And after my aunt died, Sylvia remained on and eventually married my uncle.
It causes me to pause and think about the care my mom may require down the line. Unfortunately I don't see the same tender approach from my dad. But that may change.
My mother wasn't particularly thrilled with this and at times was negative about the progression of life and events. So a huge part of the gift of Marilyn's personal memories the other night were to remind me of my uncle who lived and loved with care and devotion. And did so towards the end of his life with a woman who respected and cared for my aunt as if she were family. That too is a gift.
I spoke to my dad this afternoon, and he was in the process of gathering copies of family photos of my aunt and uncle to give to Marilyn Horne; a reciprocity of sorts. A gift of an inside look at friends she held dear and admired. I continue to reflect and allow my heart to be touched by the sincere, caring and honoring words she spoke of my uncle. I am only beginning to realize now what the window his life opened for me revealed. But for him to be gone so long (since 1986) and be allowed another look was truly a bit of heaven.
There have been other delights and "coincidental" meetings and synchronicities, weaving together of unlikely lives and friendships that startle and amaze.
Have you had experiences like that?
Labels: caregiving, gift of heaven, More reflections of Marilyn Horne, stories and synchronicities in life.
posted by www.kathypride.com at
10:03 PM
1 Comments:
Most of my experience in this department deals with my daughter and her husband. We prayed for her husband (although we had no idea who he was) for years and years, since our daughter was little. Aa it turns out, he grew up just over the hill from us. We ran in completely different circles, so never met him or his family; but those circles did touch and many of the people we knew knew people who knew his family. So when they finally met, they knew a lot of the same people..or the people our daughter knew knew people her husband knew. Their wedding was like a family reunion, or at least a gathering of friends. Many people got invitations from both sides...
I liken them to two trees growing on either side of a hill, their roots intertwining below the surface and deriving nourishment from the same source, but neither knowing the other existed until the appointed time--when they were tall enough to see each other over the top of the hill.
I have had experiences when someone I have known for a very long time and been close to, one day share just a little more and realize that we knew a lot of the same people growing up and we wonder, if we could rewind history, if we attended the same events...like if we could see pictures from WAY back, if we would be able to say "Oh, that's so and so...I didn't know she was there too! That was before I knew her!"
I think our lives are an incredibly woven tapestry and we only see the threads next to us or that cross our paths from time to time. But the Master weaver knows, when our paths cross for the first time, what the rest of the tapestry will look like. I think "history" will take on a whole new meaning in Heaven, when we get to see the "tapestry" in its entirety AND up close.
Frankly, I think it's way beyond our imagination now.
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