December 22, 2014
Sometimes gratitude comes through tears. My mother-in-law's estate finally settled last week, and Linda as executor has been delivering checks to her sisters. This afternoon, she divided her executor's fee and gave it to our kids. She served as executor because her mother had asked her to do it; she didn't want to profit in any sense from doing what her mother asked. No one ever expected there to even be any estate. Her folks were far from wealthy, and it came as a surprise that there was anything at all. There was; not a lot, but enough to bless each sister. It is a wonderful thing to be able to bless others, but doing so also signified the finality of her loss, and so, the tears. We are grateful to have had her mother for so many years, but where love is, time is of little importance. Even ninety-one years is not enough.
It's been a bittersweet day. Gratitude for years together, for love shared, for grief and tears that flow as evidence of all we have been given, for memories that are good. Love however, isn't all sweetness and light. Years ago, speaking of the intimate connection between love and grief, Kahlil Gibran said, "We weep for that which has been our delight." Tonight we lay down in a restless peace, tears on her pillow as the goodbyes become more final, while the memories alone remain. I am thankful tonight for my wife whose heart is ever tender and always generous. Each step along the way, every trip to the lawyer, every meeting with her sisters, has opened the wounds of her heart and exposed them raw to the wind, yet she has not faltered in her determination to fulfill her mother's wishes. Two days ago, we made it through the first Moore family Christmas without her mother. In another week, it will be the one year anniversary of her passing on New Year's Eve. Time has passed, grief still comes, but with it is the awareness of the love behind and within it, and the richness of the heritage of faith and love we have received.
journey.
December 22, 2014
Sometimes gratitude comes through tears. My mother-in-law's estate finally settled last week, and Linda as executor has been delivering checks to her sisters. This afternoon, she divided her executor's fee and gave it to our kids. She served as executor because her mother had asked her to do it; she didn't want to profit in any sense from doing what her mother asked. No one ever expected there to even be any estate. Her folks were far from wealthy, and it came as a surprise that there was anything at all. There was; not a lot, but enough to bless each sister. It is a wonderful thing to be able to bless others, but doing so also signified the finality of her loss, and so, the tears. We are grateful to have had her mother for so many years, but where love is, time is of little importance. Even ninety-one years is not enough.
It's been a bittersweet day. Gratitude for years together, for love shared, for grief and tears that flow as evidence of all we have been given, for memories that are good. Love however, isn't all sweetness and light. Years ago, speaking of the intimate connection between love and grief, Kahlil Gibran said, "We weep for that which has been our delight." Tonight we lay down in a restless peace, tears on her pillow as the goodbyes become more final, while the memories alone remain. I am thankful tonight for my wife whose heart is ever tender and always generous. Each step along the way, every trip to the lawyer, every meeting with her sisters, has opened the wounds of her heart and exposed them raw to the wind, yet she has not faltered in her determination to fulfill her mother's wishes. Two days ago, we made it through the first Moore family Christmas without her mother. In another week, it will be the one year anniversary of her passing on New Year's Eve. Time has passed, grief still comes, but with it is the awareness of the love behind and within it, and the richness of the heritage of faith and love we have received.
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