In the midst of death we are in life
In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord.
We had a June vacation planned to Maryland to spend time with Great Grandma and Grandpa Vogele. Grandma Vogele’s health was slowly failing and we hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving, so wanted to give Nathan more time with his great grandparents. When at the beginning of the week slowly became rapidly failing, we packed up early and raced to MD. We did not arrive in time to be with Grandma before she passed away, but we were able to sit with her body that first evening. I think the hardest part was telling Nathan he couldn’t go into the room that everyone else kept going into. He wanted to be with his family, but I could not go through the process of reminding Nathan who Grandma Vogele was and having him want to see her, just to have to then explain death.
And then we were in Maryland for the rest of the week. And in that first week of grieving but also enjoying being with family I kept thinking In the midst of life we are in death. But I was also thinking, in the midst of death, we are in life. Because we had a Nathan with us. And it was such a blessing to have Nathan there with the family. A toddler makes you get up and get on with the living things. Grandpa Vogele loved spending time with him. We told stories. We took little outdoor outings. We had a wonderfully full birthday celebration for Marisa with a trip to the Zoo and lots of good food. It was good to be together.
Last Monday I went back to Maryland for Grandma Vogele’s memorial service. Tim couldn’t leave work and I knew without his support my whole time would be focused on Nathan instead of the family, so Tim and Nathan both stayed home. I worried that without the two year old to keep us smiling it would be a very somber few days, but as the extended family gathered together we told more stories, shared more memories, took new pictures, ate lots of fish in Grandma’s honor, said let’s do this again, but let’s not wait for a death, had a wonderful time together. And the service was beautiful and what we all needed.
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