Thursday, December 13, 2007

Thoughts On Life and Death

Yesterday morning I opened up a Christmas card and letter from a dear family friend. As I was reading their letter, I felt very jealous and envious. This family is "perfect" I thought. They have almost everything most families dream of- responsible God fearing Dad; stay-at-home Proverbs 31 Mom (has side jobs just not regular); 3 beautiful young kids ( 1 girl 2 boys) are doing well in school and extra curricular activities such as sports and arts; they travel around the nation (and soon around the world) as a family; they have lots of loving family and friends; they have a beautiful home on Maui; they are actively serving at their church; I mean - what a "life"! I was jealous... I really was. Not that my life is "lacking", but somehow, when I compared our situation to theirs... oppps, there you go "compare" - that was the culprit! We should never compare!

And then yesterday morning when I called the office to say I was going to be late (again), I received a very sad news. One of our employees, a young 24 year old lad, died of a motorcycle accident on his way to work! The news was devastating. It's hard enough to hear news about death on any day, but it seems even harder to receive such news on a season like this, when everyone seems to be or are supposed to be "celebrating". It was a devastating news to all of us in the company. He is a relatively new employee but he's a very nice guy who is just starting anew. He is also the step-son of another employee of ours, who just moved in the subdivision we just built. He is the ONLY SON of his wife; and their "only son" too because our employee (the step-dad) and his wife do not have kids). It was a sad day in the workplace. Please say a prayer for his family. I can't even imagine how losing an only son would feel - devastating of course, but even more...

Our boss decided to order lunches and had it delivered at the "parents' house" so we can all gather there. All the workers (about a hundred of us) gathered in the house of this employee to support and love them. There were hugs and tears. ....

After that, the "jealousy" I felt for our other friends melted away. Funny how when we are confronted with the "life and death" situations (ours or others we know), our perspective align better than when we just try to decipher life without the context of death.

One comforting and touching thing we heard was that the last word uttered to this lad by his mom was "I LOVE YOU". It was not on the accident scene because his mom wasn't there, and he died on the spot of the accident. the I LOVE YOU was uttered the night before. The night before the accident, this lad was in his parents house for dinner. When he went home his mom asked him to call them as soon as he arrive home. He did. And before they hang up the phone, his mom said I love you to him ... Little did they know that that "I love you" is also a "goodbye"...

***

After the thoughts above, I just want to say
I AM THANKFUL for my life, and for my family.

I think I should head on to Laurel Wreath for more thankfulness
on a THANKFUL THURSDAY ....

9 comments:

Nise' said...

Sorry to read about the death of this young man. May the God of all comfort surround and support this family and your co-workers.

Unknown said...

Liza, you are so right. It's so hard sometimes to not be jealous of others. But to cherish each day that we have with our loved ones is a true gift! May that gift be yours this Christmas!

Denise said...

Bless you precious one.

Mrs Groovy said...

How sad. He'll be in my prayers. Thanks for the reminder that I am blessed.

BlondeMomBlog (Jamie) said...

I'm so sorry to hear about such a horrible tragedy! I will say a prayer for the family.

We received a card today in the mail...from elderly friends of my husband's down in Florida (he lived there a few years before we got engaged.) Any way, her husband had died of lung cancer this summer...awful!

Times like this remind us to never take friends and family for granted.

Susan said...

Dear Liza,

Oh, what a sad story... I'm so glad the last words were "I LOVE YOU".

We should live each like it could be like our last for sure.

During this wonderful season, many are missing their loves ones. We need to be sensitive to this.

Blessings to you on the TT!

Susan

Scribbit said...

That's so horrible, what a thing to have happen right during the holidays. But I appreciate your thoughts about it.

Lori said...

I am so sorry to hear about your co-worker. And you are right, it does seem to hit the heart even more around the holidays. My prayers are with his family.

Have a good weekend.

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your coworker...and you are right. Being confronted by death does change your perspective on things.

Dana
Principled Discovery