Sunday, February 19, 2012

For Chris...


Yesterday morning I woke up to a beautiful spring day. The birds were singing, and the sun was shining, and the daffodils were blooming, and all was right with the world. That is, all was right with my world.

Until I turned on my phone … and it immediately beeped with a devastating message from my sister letting me know that someone very dear to us lost her battle with cancer very early Saturday morning.

And then the sun seemed too bright, the birds seemed too loud, the world was too happy and full of itself. How can this be when this lovely woman, who guided so many young lives, who was such a delight to be around, is suddenly gone? How can this be when two happy, beautiful young women have lost their mother, a husband his sweetheart, a brother his only sibling, a father his only daughter?

My heart breaks for this family. I can’t bear to imagine their sadness and grief, the loss of all their tomorrows with her…of all the promises of joys to be shared. 
No, all is not right with their world, and I pray that, someday, it will be right again.

What comes rushing at me now, is the reminder that life is short and fleeting. 
That in the blink of an eye there are no more tomorrows to make things right, to do things differently.

Let us be gentle to the people we love.
Let us be forgiving of the people we love.
Let us reach out to the people we love, instead of waiting for them to reach out to us…
Because, that “someday” may never come.
As my baby sister so eloquently told me, “Our real epitaph isn't words carved on a stone, it's memories carved on the hearts of the ones we love.”   

Chris, you will live on in the hearts of the many lives you touched.
The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the flowers are blooming for you.

Rest in peace…
Rest in peace.

3 comments:

ggminton said...

What a lovely tribute , I didn't know her, but if she was a friend of yours, she must have been wonderful, prayers going her way..

Kathyrn Turner said...

Lisa, this is one of the most beautiful tributes I have ever read. Although I didn't know Chris very well, she and the whole Beasley/Steppelman family accepted Phil and I into their families at Thanksgiving. Now, I'm giving thanks that I got to know Chris.

Lisa said...

Kathryn, you and Phil ARE family. We love you.