Life Well Lived…

Week 3 of radiation has come and gone… yipee!! And as with all things in life my time spent in Eugene has not gone even remotely how I thought it would. I envisioned long lunches with old friends, lots of walks along the river and tons of hours spent in little cafe’s writing my little heart out. But as with all things, where God is in control and I am not, my plans get turned on their head and a much better one unfolds. A plan that is not nearly as simple as the one I had laid out for myself but one that has had some great highs, extreme lows and an overall deeper connection with friends and acquaintances of long ago.

Amidst the high’s I have gotten to spend a great deal of time with my second mom, Jean. We don’t see each other all that often anymore because they live in Phoenix and we live in Coos Bay. But thankfully for me my radiation schedule perfectly coincided with their already planned month long stay in Eugene. Yay Me!!

I was also given the great gift of not missing out on the kids 1st day of school or of watching Bridger play in his 1st football game of the year. Go Chargers!

To be given the opportunity to laugh a bit and love a bit more the people that God has placed in my life is something that I am grateful for every single day. 2015 will always be for me the year that I got to begin again. The year that I was given the chance to love a little deeper, to evaluate my direction in life and decide to live more and worry less.

 

Last weekend our family attended the memorial service of Hal and Milo Skinner. They were flying a two man plane that went down just outside of Creswell, Oregon. The service was both devastating and inspiring. Inspiring because Hal had lived a long life and left quite an impressive legacy of family, friendships and love. Devastating because Milo was so young and had such a long life yet to be lived. But in the midst of the saddness you could not miss the impact that this young man had made on so many lives. He lived well. The vast array of friendships that he maintained throughout his life were all represented from his musician friends, family friends, work friends and childhood friends. I loved him because he loved and honored my friend Carri so much.

You have no idea how much one life makes a difference until that life ends and people from all walks of life come out to honor that life. What you do matters, who you love matters, your dreams, passions, hobbies they all matter. Why? Because each time you put yourself out there you affect someone else. At the service I saw people I hadn’t seen in 15 years or more and in the midst of the tears and confusion and pain, there was joy. There was a sense of family, a reunion of sorts. It’s so easy to get caught up in the mundaneness of life and forget that the main reason you are here is form relationships and to walk together into eternity.

As you go about your day, think about all of the people you come in contact with. You matter. Your life will impact others in either a positive or negative way today. I am praying that all of my connections will leave people better off than they were before and I am praying for God’s grace to cover the times when my attitude or my heart have been less than stellar.

The impact that Milo made on this earth was great and because of this the depth of the grief of those left behind is also great. Please, if you can, keep Carri and Milo’s family in your prayers. Learning how to live again after losing a loved one is in my opinion one of the hardest things about living here on earth. I know with all my heart that God has a plan for my friend but in the interim she could sure use a very large dose of prayer.

Have a great day, All!

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