Time Marches On; June 17, 2020

You know, maybe it is one of those things that you just experience more as you get older.

And that's people you love leaving this earth.

Some do so after a long, well-lived life and others way, way too soon.

My family has had quite a go of it here the past few years.

Of course, my sister and my grandfather - my Dad's dad - passed away in 2014.

My Dad's sister's third husband, Ted, passed away just after Hurricane Harvey made its way through the Gulf Coast area in 2017.

My great aunt Phyllis - my grandfather's sister - expired on February 17, 2019.

My grandmother - my Dad's mom - died last year at the age of 94 last June.  It will be a year ago on June 25.

My Dad's brother's wife - my aunt Ginger - died unexpectedly three days before Christmas 2019.

My great aunt Jane - my grandmother's sister - joined her sister in Heaven on March 11, just three months ago.

And two family members of my daughter's mother - both on her mother's side of the family - passed away this year in Tennessee.

We learned Monday morning, June 15, that my Dad's brother - my uncle Dave - was burned over 80 percent of his body in a fire at his house in Duncansville, Pennsylvania very early in the morning (close to midnight actually).

He was life-flighted to UPMC's Trauma and Burn Center in Pittsburgh Monday morning and it was determined Tuesday evening that there wasn't any more that they could do for him and that he passed about 90 minutes from midnight.

My Dad's sister - my aunt Peggy - flew there yesterday (Tuesday) to be with Dave's son Travis and his fiance to help deal with everything and it looks like I'll start traveling to Pennsylvania Wednesday evening to assist Travis with all of the legal things that he'll have to be a part of dealing with.

Much of this, including my Dad's stroke earlier this year during our current COVID-19 pandemic, I haven't shared with more than one or two people outside of my immediate family.

For all of my involvement over the years in the community, including what I share on social media,  I've simply chosen - even though I have people that view me in a very favorable fashion - not to share too much of my personal life.

I pulled this up late Tuedsay evening and it fits, "We are okay with the idea of giving our burdens to God, but we aren’t so keen on sharing them with those around us."

Yes, Alyssa J. Howard, the person who wrote this four years ago on a blog, that's me to a "T".

She went on to write that it was pride that was a refusal to share - and even using Galatians 6:2-3 that one might think that they're too important to help someone else.

The verse she went on to reference was, "Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. – Galatians 6:2-3 (NLT)"

The latter - helping someone - simply isn't the case with me.

I think it is more that I'm just a fairly private person, but sharing in this fashion - the written word - is the most comfortable way for me to get out and manage my thoughts and feelings.

My employer and work team has been great over the years in allowing me the time to deal with the situations with my sister, grandparents and my Dad.  I couldn't be more thankful.

The issue is that I'll have some legal responsibilities to fulfill on behalf of the wishes of my aunt and uncle and my Dad, who handled most of the things for my grandmother after my grandfather passed and almost all of the items after she passed, is simply not in the physical condition to be able to travel as he desires to.

I know my Dad shared with those on his Facebook page Monday and Tuesday and all of our family is certainly appreciative of all of the prayers that so many requested of the Lord.

As my Dad shared with me Tuesday evening, relaying a conversation that he had with our church's pastor emeritus here recently, there's just certain things that we won't fully understand until it is our time to pass to the other side.

Friends, hug your loved ones as much as you can.

I've had my failings in this area over the years - and it is just a result of my fighting my own battles and not from any lack of care or concern of those closest to me.

A verse from my childhood, James 4:14 (KJV) -- "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." 

So very true.