This morning I attended the funeral of my cousin's baby girl. Marissa Marie went to be with Jesus on Thursday, January 22nd. I had never experienced a child's funeral before, and for that I am thankful. Seeing sweet baby M in her casket was heart-wrenching. She looked like a gorgeous little porcelain doll. I found myself wanting to just scoop her up...her chubby little legs and fingers looked so perfect. It was hard to look at her and not wonder why she is gone. We still don't know the cause of her death, and probably won't for a couple of weeks. I had a chance last night at the viewing to spend some time with M's older sister. Madi is 5 and was looking a little sad, so I called her over to sit with me. I was asking her if she was ready for things to be normal again, and she said, "Yeah. I want people to stop bringing food. We have enough food at our house."
This is my last post about M's death...because it's time to move on. She is toddling along the streets of Heaven, with no heart troubles to slow her down. She finally got to meet her Great Grandma who passed away 3 weeks after M was born.
And this experience has taught me to hold tightly to the ones I love, because they could have years, months, or only a day left. I don't want to have regrets about something I said to someone if that turned out to be the last thing I ever said to them.
And I want to savor every single moment of my children's lives. The good, the bad, and the ugly :) God has given them to me, and while I hope they're here for the long haul, I don't know that. Every day is a gift. We would all do well to remember that (even while I'm typing this and my 2 yr old is screaming at the top of her lungs from her bedroom...it's still a gift!)
Jodi