She would only be 55 today.
I remember the day the stupid Goshen News put her obituary in the newspaper. (I like the Goshen News under normal circumstances.) And I thought about all the people who had gone to Northwood High School with her reading it. Or her old teachers reading it. Mostly, all the people who were a whole lot older than her reading it.
Happy Birthday to the most creative, funny, caring, and conscientious person! Happy Birthday to a person who did more in her lifetime than some who live twice as long! Happy Birthday to a lady who died with class and peace!
How I wish we could go out for lunch! How I wish I could bring her another Arby's roast beef with cheese or her favorite cream filled roll from Festival Foods! (I learned from her that Walmart's cream-filled rolls have inferior cream.) How I wish I could show her my new book...and tell her the ways that God has been so good to me and the amazing people He's put in my life, and the lavish answers to prayer. How I wish I could tell her about the good conversation I had with my brother last night, and then she would talk to me about the grandchildren: Brad and Lys and David and the twins...
I think she would tell me to live each day with joy and love every person I meet and laugh more often.
In the letter I opened after she died, she says: "Perhaps from heaven I can see what you will all accomplish--but even greater than accomplishments is faithfulness."
Perhaps she can.
Today is a gift--
That is why it is called The Present.
