my day off

As I worked around home today I recalled a conversation with a friend this weekend.  She was talking about how an elderly lady mentioned that she was becoming afraid to read the newspaper out of fear she would see another elderly friends' name in the obituary section.

My dad has talked a lot lately about how much he misses his siblings who have passed on this year and last.  He knows they are in the presence of Jesus ecstatic to be there, but the loneliness of missed conversations and hugs are still felt deeply everyday.

Later as I sat down to work on a project related to raising orphanage funds, I thought about the fact that the Cambodian orphans will never mourn the death of an elderly relative. All older people have either been killed, died from disease or if any at all are still living - they have found new families which requires that they abandon their previous children.  In most cases no one even knows they exist or cares.

Think about that, they will never lose an elderly relative...

That makes me realize - even to mourn an elderly relative or friend's passing is a blessing.