When You Don’t Get To Say Good-Bye…
When You Don’t Get To Say Good Bye…
Today, we will celebrate the life of my brother. Although he is not here, we know that we will see him again in heaven. I thought about all the people that never got the opportunity to say goodbye to someone they loved. I believe that happens a lot in life.
Life happens, times change and the circle of life goes by quickly. I wrote on the white board at the office where I work something like this; celebrate every day, enjoy life. It goes by quickly.
After the news of the passing of my brother, I sat quietly at my table in reflection of our times together. This is what I penned that day.
I pondered in the recesses of my mind this morning what I would say about my brother Dale. He was the next brother to me in age. I think about nine or ten years older. We called him sometimes by his middle name Henry.
In our childhood I remember he joined the volunteer fire dept. here in Presque Isle. I can still hear KC8-288 we have a fire at such and such a place and the quest to get Dale out of bed was horrendous. I remember once giving him a tap or two with the broom handle to awaken him. Nothing helped getting Dale out of bed when he was sound asleep.
I remember the lunchtimes as he walked across the street from Beaulieu’s Hardware. I think I may have made him a pancake or two.
I remember I wanted him to do something for me, and he said no. I got on the back of his truck in my pajamas so he wouldn’t leave. What a brat of a little sister huh? He drove up the street with me in my pajamas to one of his friend’s houses they called Peanut. I think I am still a little mad about that one Dale.
I spent some time picking potatoes at harvest time in the fields with Dale. Some of those memories have left my mind. The rubber boots and brown picking gloves, sore back and large brown bag filled to capacity for snacks and lunch are still pretty vivid though. I remember the early morning truck and getting on the back with a whole bunch of potato pickers and it still seemed we were still in the darkness of the night.
Later in life when things were tough, Dale was there for me. The many trips to the landfill, cleaning the garage and cooking his little sister a dinner or two. He bled my furnace and shook his head no at a faucet or two.
Dale was kind. People always told me he was such a kind man, and it made me proud to be his sister.
We drove around looking at houses in the convertible this summer as I was looking to move. I glanced back once or twice and all seemed fine. He never liked my driving much, I never did understand why.
Today Dale is in his final resting place. I felt bad I never got to say good-bye. I know I will see him again on the other side. The prayers we prayed, the times we shared were a blessing in time. Until we meet again…
Maybe that’s your story this morning. Maybe you lost a loved one or something happened that changed the dynamics of your life. Grief and loss are real. However, when you think of heaven, streets of gold, being with Jesus, united with those that went on before us, it brings comfort and peace to the human heart.
Have a blessed day God’s most beautiful people. Celebrate your day, because life is truly like a vapor.
What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—1 Corinthians 2:9