It has been a good - although emotionally challenging - weekend. After returning from a great hymn sing at Pinebrook on Friday, November 5, my son and grandson surprised us with a visit that night. That was short, but so nice! The older you get, the more you appreciate such visits from family members. Then on Saturday, November 6, we went to Penn State to watch an exciting football game. We also stopped to visit Dianne's sister in Lewistown. Now you may ask, "Why was that an emotionally challenging weekend?" Well, 17 years ago we had a similar weekend. On Friday, November 5, we went to visit my mother on her birthday. She really appreciated our visit, as we did as well. Then on Saturday, November 6, we went to Penn State to watch an exciting football game. On the way home we stopped to visit Dianne's parents. While we were there we received a call that would change our lives. We were told that a teenager had hit my parents' car, and my mother was killed instantly and my father was in the hospital. So this history was in our minds as for the first time since then we duplicated these activities on the very same dates that tragedy struck 17 years ago. The years have eased the pain and shock, and I know my mother is better off in heaven. But I still miss her. I would love to call her again or visit her and share what is happening in my life. I wish she had been able to know all her great -grandchildren. She would have loved them. She only had the joy of knowing our oldest grandson. My daughter-in-law was pregnant with our second grandson when she died. A few weeks ago her youngest great-grandson was dedicated at church and it brought tears to my eyes to think of how thrilled she would have been to see that. I wonder if the Lord somehow allowed her to enjoy that special event in heaven. But time passes on. She is gone. Dad is now gone. Our homestead is now gone. But we have the hope of being with them again. There are so many lessons that I learned from her sudden death. One of those is that we shouldn't put off until tomorrow spending quality time with our loved ones - tomorrow may never come. We are so thrilled that we took time to spend with her on her birthday, the day before she died, not knowing that this would be the last time - the last hug - the last kiss. But God is good and He knows ALL of our steps - our today's and our tomorrow's. So let me close by encouraging you to call a loved one today, or better yet, visit. Don't wait for tomorrow.
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