Monday, June 12, 2006

life is precious

Yeah, I know, how trite. But sometimes it hits home. Times like tonight.

While filling my tank at the gas station today, I ran in to a man I knew from the church we attend occasionally. We exchanged the usual "how's it going?" stuff, then he asked if I'd heard that Wendy, a church member, had passed away yesterday from cancer.

That hit me like a bullet. Wendy was the same age as me. She left behind a husband and kids.

I knew Wendy had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had seen her on and off for the last year. Wendy was a nice woman, shy but sweet, and she had worked at the local grocery store. Whenever Mr. Attitude was in there, she would have special smiles for him. Because of that, when we went to church he would always seek her out to say hello. And now she won't be there anymore.

Even the guy I talked to, a devout Christian who says he submits to God's plan, seemed at a loss with this one. His words: "It just isn't supposed to happen this way..."

It sure isn't. My prayers are with her family.

1 comment:

Madcap said...

Two summers ago we attended a funeral for a man in his mid-forties. There was a family history of really aggressive cancer, and he'd already lost several siblings. He left five children and his wife behind, and yes, I was watching that family and thinking that this isn't the way it's supposed to happen. Seven year old boys should grow up with their dads beside them, not just a memory.