Life and Death
The last few weeks have held quite a variety of emotions, some very sad and difficult and some worth celebration. First the happy. Katelynn had her 21st birthday on September 26th. Yep, we are the proud parents of a full-fledged adult. Amazing. I can hardly believe this many years have gone by since I was holding that tiny little 3 lb. 2 oz. preemie allowed out of her incubator for only a few minutes at a time. It was a scary time, wondering what complications and problems would plague her for her entire life just because she was born early and small. But the Lord is so good. She never had anything more difficult than a high incidence of ear infections her first 12 months. Not only did she avoid being a slow learner, a common problem for preemies and low birthweight infants, but just the opposite. The teachers never knew what to do with a kid so bright and far ahead of her peers. She is still moving at her usual warp speed, getting ready to graduate from college in December after only 3.5 years. Congratulations, Katelynn. We love you and are so proud of you!!
Sadly, Katelynn was so busy on her birthday we had to put off our celebration until 4 days later. So that Friday evening, we collected Nikki in Boulder and drove to South Denver for a wonderful dinner and celebration at White Fence Farms. Katelynn had been there before and had tried for months to get us all to take a trip down there. Since it was her choice for dinner, she chose WFF. It is a very fun place complete with carriage rides, shopping, playground, petting corral and live music on stage. And the food, served family style, was delicious. The hours aren't long in the evening and we felt a bit rushed, so we decided next time we will be sure to go on a Sunday afternoon.
One of the things Katy is busy with is job hunting. It is recruiting time at the accounting firms and the hunt is on. So far she has had 4 interviews, another coming this week, and a few firms she still hasn't heard from. With the exception of one she tracked down herself, these are the result of the on-campus recruiting program. We're praying that God will match her with a great job and, if we have our way, one that is close by. Even having her move to Denver seems too far away for me. Since she is living at home this semester, her involvement and help with Mara is a treasure to all of us. I'm going to hate to see her go more than a few blocks from home and I KNOW Mara shares my opinion on this.
Now for the sad. One week after Katelynn's birthday, on October 3, we received the very sad news that Jeff's dad, Ed Stoll, had died early that morning in his sleep. At age 90 this was not unexpected. He'd been hospitalized a few weeks earlier and going downhill since. But still, we hated to hear the news and it was quite a sad day for Jeff. Not an easy thing to realize with both parents gone, you are the "older" generation. And hard to think that there is nothing left to take us back to his hometown of Oscoda, Michigan in the future. I think all of us feel the passing of generations and it is one more thing that reminds of how fleeting is our time on this earth. I'm saddened to think that Mara will not have a chance to get to know her grandfather past their one meeting and that our next daughter will never meet him at all. This second generation family will miss the love and caring of both Jeff's parents, a gift that our older girls were blessed to have. And they will never get to experience the marathon road trips between Colorado and Michigan to spend time at "the lake" with their grandparents. But the first generation family has precious memories that we are so thankful for and I count on Katelynn and Nikki to share their memories with their little sisters so they too can know how special these two people were.
Ed, we'll miss you, but we're celebrating the joy you and Ilah are sharing at being reunited with one another. And one more thing, would you please love on my little girl for me until I get there? I do get a big smile on my face when I think of Ed, Ilah, Kelsey and my dad all sharing stories of those they've left behind. I so look forward to joining them all.
And so, once again I realize that grief makes the joy all the sweeter. Thank you Lord for the family you've given me and for the knowledge that we will all be together again, some day.
posted by Laurie @ 2:36 PM
1 comments
