On love and loss

Although they are bittersweet, funerals are, I think, important events -- a way to honor the one who has died, a way to get some closure, a way to support the loved ones in their grief. 

I got to know more about my friend, Sharee, today. We smiled (and laughed) as some of her children shared little things about her -- her love of sports cars and of driving fast, the long receipts from shopping trips as she spoiled her loved ones ("If you like a shirt in black, you ought to have it in all the colors of the rainbow"). We wept as we remembered her kind, courageous, loving, faithful ways.

Sharee was my visiting teaching companion for over a year and a half. I feel blessed that I had such an opportunity to serve with and get to know her. Truth be told, I think she served me more than anyone in our association as companions...she was there during some rough times in my life. I have precious memories of sitting in her car for hours after a visiting teaching appointment. We had some long phone conversations, too.

As I drove my children home from the funeral today, my youngest couldn't hold back the tears. (Sharee and she had quite a close relationship.) I shared with my children a quote from Elder Russell M. Nelson that has gone through my mind a lot these past weeks:

The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life.

This quote was shared at my grandma's funeral; it stuck with me and somehow gave me permission to grieve when my grandpa died two years later. The feeling I had was, "Bring it on!" -- let the grief come, I said to myself; it only matched the love I felt.

And so, we grieve, hard, today. Because we love Sharee deeply.

Rest in peace, friend...until we meet again.

Some people come into our lives
and quickly go.
Some stay for awhile
and leave footprints
in our hearts
And we
are never the same.

(printed on the back of her funeral program)