Remembering a Life and Death

Today I am grateful for the walk Darcy and I just took, and for fragrant flowers on a muggy morning. 

As I prepare to travel to Iowa for my aunt's funeral, I have once again considered living and dying from a more thoughtful perspective in my own middle age, and after losing my first sibling two years ago. 

When someone we know dies, it's pretty natural to think first about how we knew her or him and how they impacted our lives. We might then think of those closest to this person, the ones who will miss them the most. There are usually a handful or people most directly impacted by a death, the ones who feel the gaping hole where their loved one once was. 

With Aunt Norma Jean's death, I pondered another level of loss, grief, life impact. What is the collective difference someone has made in the world over their lifetime, whether that lifetime lasted mere days, many years or several decades? Hearing others speak yesterday at a remembrance service for her, I listened to some of the people who saw Norma Jean regularly and were touched by her kind smile and considerate words frequently.

Take that times 87 years and my aunt made some real waves in the positive stream of life. She was a spiritual director in an official capacity, but also an unofficial one. Sometimes we regret the words we didn't say, the visit we never had. What can I do today to connect with the living? 

My blog posts may be more sporadic this next month. There is plenty going on in life, many blessings. There are plenty of posts for you to go back and read. Maybe I should do some of that as well. 

Keeping the idea of death close may seem morbid, but I find that it heightens aliveness for the gift that it is. Have a good day of living today.