While We Can

It was a Saturday morning, nine years ago. On that particular Saturday, Brandon, Stephanie and AJ were visiting for the weekend. I love weekends like that, with family around. They happen much too seldom, but that's a subject for another day.

On that particular Saturday morning, nine years ago, I got "the phone call". The one I had been dreading but knew would one day come. The one that told me that, at age 88, my beloved Daddy had gone to be with Jesus.

In many ways, that seems very long ago. Yet the memory of that day is as vivid as if it had just happened this morning. And although I've grown accustomed to his absence, I still miss him so much!

How I would love one more hug, one more conversation, one more visit, one more surprise phone call - just because! How I miss the twinkle in his eye, his sense of humor, his laugh. And how I miss those more serious conversations. About the Scriptures. About politics. About life.

How I would love to hear that voice just once more say "Top o' the mornin' to ya!"

I wouldn't even mind hearing that same joke I've heard hundreds of times. Just one more time! "Have I told you the one about......", he would say. "Tell me again", I would say.

His passing was sudden and unexpected. Well, I suppose not completely unexpected, since he was 88 years old! But certainly not expected on that particular day, June 13, 2009.

That's a reminder to each of us to live every day to its fullest, because we never know when it's time to go. And it's a reminder to love our family and friends - and to let them know how much they are loved - to tell them we love them while we can - because we never know when it's time for them to go.

Daddy was, as I am, very much a creature of habit. His morning routine began with his coffee and his Bible, and he always read from the Open Windows devotional book. As we gathered at his house on that Saturday, his Bible and devotional book were on the table next to his chair, open to the passage he had read on his last day in this life. It's what always comes to mind as I remember that day because it so perfectly describes my daddy. And while I miss both my parents terribly, and my husband's parents as well, this is their legacy and the hope I have of seeing them again.......

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then ye shall also appear with him in glory."  (Colossians 3:2-3 KJV)