A funeral

This week I was invited to a funeral. I did not know the young man who died, nor his young wife, but I did know the wife's sister, and since she was coming from across the country, she invited friends who were nearby, including three of her old friends from college. Two of us lived a scant five minutes from the church where the funeral was held, the other, about three hours away.

It was a very tragic death. The couple had been married three years and had just graduated law school. They were running a marathon. About a month ago, it became apparent that he had a bee sting allergy, but this was the first anyone knew about it, from what I have heard. Then he was stung. He ran another five minutes, then collapsed. His wife was there. Nothing could be done. He was flown to the hospital and died a couple of days later, but he never woke up. I had facebook updates through a friend, and also, the wife's uncle is the priest here in my town, so another friend was telling me what the uncle had heard, and so my news was coming from two vastly different sources at once. It was the saddest thing, since he was just starting out, really. My friend who was his sister in law sang at the wedding with her husband. How she did it with a clear and beautiful voice, I just don't even know. But I sure did pray that she could, and maybe a lot of us were doing the same thing. It was a beautiful homily as well. I just can't imagine what it was like for any of the family members there.

I guess the most important thing I took away from it, like any funeral, is that I really should be more grateful for what I have, especially my husband. He works hard, loves his family, has no interest in doing anything to destroy that balance, and takes a fair amount of guff from me with almost no complaint. Why am I so lucky? God has blessed us beyond measure.

I have thought about that a lot lately. I think I'm in a lull in my life. The first 8 years of marriage were hard. No money, no time to relax, crazy times. We loved each other, but boy were we stressed. The first year was the worst. And then we turned a corner, and now things are much more relaxed. Much. But I can see around the corner.

Around the corner lies kids growing up, going to college maybe. Parents getting older and becoming frail, or dying. Sisters needing assistance, but it looks like the brother will be ok. Yay! When will the trouble start again? I don't know. Could be tomorrow. Could be next year. I might even have ten years of calm, but I wouldn't count on it. My dad is 68, and the rest of the parents have entered their 60's somewhere after him. We have long lived grandparents in most cases, up to 95 in my grandfather's case, but as early as the early 60's in others. Maybe earlier.

I know worry could enter the picture here, but for me, it won't til the crisis comes. I read somewhere that a saint or someone said, "Why are we spending so much effort on this terminal condition called 'life'?" In other words, why are we spending so much money and worry and work on staying alive, when it is our souls that are eternal? I guess because one is obvious, and the other less so, while we are on earth.

But then I think of Heaven, and I look forward to it tremendously. I can then spend all the time I want doing good and right things, basking in glory with my friends and family who have arrived there with me. I think of friends who are separated from me by distance, and I think of spending eternity with them and how lovely that would be. I hope God will find myself and many others worthy. I'm counting on His mercy.

Please pray for the Jibben and Smith families. When the two got married, they combined their last name to Jibbensmith. So please especially pray for Greta Jibbensmith, who is alone among family and in mourning. I cannot understand her pain, but I know one day I may, and I hope God's comfort embraces her and all his family.