Old and New

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Ever have a date in your life that was significant for more than one reason? No, I don't mean a DATE date. I mean a calendar type of date. In the 1970's, I went to tech school with a girl whose birthday was November 22, and she said that 22 was a special number to her, rattling off a list of reasons why that I can't seem to remember.

December 29 has become memorable to me:

In 1987, it was the day we moved our family from Dublin to Americus. That was 20 years ago, and I still can't believe it. This is the longest I've ever lived in one town. Americus is sort of a hard town to merge into, especially in the winter time and especially during the Christmas and New Year's seasons. Our children were 5 years old and 17 months old at the time. Our daughter barely remembers Dublin, although she grieved and cried for the longest time over leaving her best friend, Lisa, there. I think she finally got over it. Our son, however, remembers nothing about that dear town. I loved it there. It was where I became a Christian, so it's always gonna be my spiritual home until I get to my Real One.

On December 29, 2003, my husband's 85-year-old mother succumbed to cancer. She'd had it only a short time, obviously, since she only found out she had it in September of that year. Hers was a quick and quite painless death. I had prayed two things for her when I found out she had it: "Lord, please don't let her suffer, and please just let her go to sleep." That is exactly how it happened. She had three months to get her arrangements made (she asked that I sing "He Touched Me" at her funeral, which I did, completely dry-eyed, much to my tender-hearted sister's amazement. What can I say? God is good) and to accept visits from friends and relatives. She was placed, by the doctor, into a nice nearby nursing facility and was quite pleasant throughout the whole three months...eating well, making new (albeit short-term) friends, laughing. Thankfully, she had needed only a few Tylenols for an occasional pain. Over a period of several days, we think beginning on Christmas Eve, she just sort of lost sight of reality and drifted off to sleep. On December 29, I showed up for a visit and found the nurses discussing her condition...her blood pressure was extremely low, and I couldn't make her open her eyes. In a few hours she was gone. Not suffering. Just going to sleep. Fortunately, all of that happened about eight months before the leaders of our then-church suggested that maybe we would be happier elsewhere.

On December 29, 2006, at a new church we celebrated with our new pastor and his wife and family the birth of their first grandchild, Toby. A few days ago, on December 29,2007, Toby turned one year old.

Somtimes with unhappy endings come happy beginnings.