Yesterday two people we know passed away. One was our neighbor, an elderly man, the other a 17 year old boy who had been battling a terminal illness for some time. It just seems like so many people are dying, or losing people. Maybe it just hits me harder, I don’t know.
Joey’s death certificate came in the mail today. I read through it, and felt positively sick with grief. With each day comes more finality. Seeing his name there on a death certificate, followed by his age, level of education, time of death, cause of death.
13
Kindergarten
1227
Sepsis
It was hard to read. Especially where it said his death was natural. I know death is a natural part of life, but it doesn’t feel natural. But at the same time I was thinking all this and feeling sick inside, I remembered a passage in A Grief Observed and for some reason it clicked and I felt better and I know everything is ok.
Thus up from the garden to the Gardener, from the sword to the Smith. To the life-giving Life and the Beauty that makes beautiful.
When I started out reading the book I thought it would be a good idea to mark the passages that really spoke to me, for future reference. I might as well have highlighted the whole book. It’s brilliant. Raw, and painful, but brilliant and so true. And I’m not even done with it yet. Next time someone close to you loses someone, don’t send a card, send A Grief Observed.
God is Good.
