marianne's musings

Friday, March 09, 2007

grieving death, celebrating life

today is saturday, march 10. in a couple of hours my boss, kimberly, will be picking melanie (the intern) and I up to drive up the coast and meet oomera. she teaches the indigenous portion of our program. oomera is aboriginal. i am looking forward to meeting her. we will be going on a bit of a hike with her too.

just over a week ago i was on a bus, heading 7 hours west to a remote farm. we were taking a trip with the students to the "outback." it actually was nowhere near the outback, and "outback" is actually a fairly american term. australians really don't use it. about halfway to the farm i received a call from my sister kelly. there had been a death in my family. my uncle dick (my mom's brother in miami), had died that night. it was very unexpected and very tragic. needless to say, i really couldn't engage in the weekend the way i should have, and i was glad to get back and be able to call my mom.

it's never easy saying goodbye to a loved one, and very strange to be so removed from the family grieving process. all my family (immediate and extended) are all down in florida now. there will be a memorial service tomorrow. please pray for my family...my aunt linda; my cousins jen, amy, and david; my mom and my aunt dg; and the rest of us.

god is amazing. this week, as our family is grieving a death, we are also celebrating life, with two birthdays. i have definitely been thinking about how each day is a blessing that we must not take for granted. we never know when life might end, when we will not have a chance to do all the things we have dreamed of, or be the person we desire to be, or make ammends for the stupid things we do...

we just finished reading "can you drink the cup" by henri nouwen. i say we because whatever we assign the students to read melanie, kimberly, and i must also read it. anyway, he talks about drinking our cup to the fullest...the very last drop...including all the joys and the sorrows. so i ask myself, "can i drink the cup?" can i breath in each breath that god has given me and live life to the fullest?

thank you all for being a part of my life. i enjoy all the emails and questions about life in australia, and i especially enjoy hearing how things are going in your lives! know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope you are well. I miss you and am worried... but I know that you are in good HANDS!
~Erin
http://journals.aol.com/elgeiselman/unwavering-me/

5:03 AM  

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