Threes

Today I mourn the loss of a very dear friend.

For what seems like as long as I can remember, I have prayed... for peace, for him, for comfort, for me. Today the Universe  sent me a reply. Framed in the three-story window of my hotel, I saw God’s face... smiling.


I noted not the window itself, but how it framed the world outside. Magic hour sunlight ignited fires of gold and crimson in the trees beyond. As if God himself had left the door to Heaven propped open, affording me a peek inside. God, the Master Designer of the ultimate Creation. Like a cinematographer, practicing his craft, He shines His light on what is to be seen immediately. And casts in shadow that which He chooses to reveal later. 

I thought about Adam in the garden. Of Life's three consistencies... Time. Love. Experience.  
Beginning. Middle. End.

My lizard brain tells me that to all things, there comes an end. There can be no beginning anew without. As a teen, I remember my mom at her mom's funeral. From my vantage point in the corner, surrounded by blue-hairs, toddlers, and a host of others whom I barely knew, I watched... as mom leaned over the casket. She kissed her mother good-bye. I felt confused. I went over to Mam and touched her hand. It was cold as Death.

I felt confused, and a little angry, even. If Mam's soul had flown to Heaven, as I had been raised to believe, then why kiss this lifeless body now? I was too young to understand grief.


That has since changed. I know now what I wish I didn't. Human beings are selfish creatures. And the Heart wants what it wants. 

It’s been less than twelve hours, yet already I want my friend back. I curse this new Future without him. 


Why do we wait until someone threatens to leave our lives forever before we find courage…enough to show and tell them what they mean to us? Surfing the 'net just now, I saw that The Huffington Post has a new blog, devoted entirely to divorce. An attempt to glorify? Or help others deal?

It is some comfort to know that I am not in this boat alone. Even the mighty TV don Tony Soprano, waxing poetic to his son, J.J., tipped his hat to heartbreak: “There’s an entire industry dedicated to lost love. It's called music.”


Music. Literature. Movies. And centuries of poetry… from Plato to Longfellow to Kanye.

"That that don't kill me, can only make me stronger... " ("Stronger", c. Kanye West)

The Bottom Line: Grief sucks.

I searched a million words for a nicer way to say it. There is none.  

Our spiritual background, or absence of, informs how we look at death. Which in turn, informs the way we live our lives. In the game of Life, there are no absolutes… only belief. (Or, sadly, the absence of it.) 

Want to avoid the new HuffPost blog? Easy. When you love someone, SHOW them. Just don’t wait too long.