Sunday, March 16, 2008

An undesired gift

I spent a bit of time today doing something I have done a few times before but dread equally each time. I was able to do a small thing to help a friend by making "that" phone call (and sending "that" email) that no one wants: to pass on the information that my dear friend Rosie's mom passed away this weekend.

It is a bitter-sweet call, complete with the sadness in others' voices as we express our pain and sorrow (and helplessness) of the situation. It is sad because too often, those phone calls are made to folks we don't talk to often- as was certainly true for me, it has been over two years since I last spoke with Katie on the phone.

Yet it is also a gift. For if it were not for the blessings of how tragedies bring us together in this way, I would still not have spoken with those I did today. I would not have been offered the gift of and peace of hearing old friends' voices and laughing at old jokes I'd long forgotten without anyone to help me remember them. So today, instead of lamenting such tasks, I instead choose to celebrate moments like this that offer me an opportunity to be reminded of all that I have and all of those whose lives have touched and blessed my own- and I am thankful.

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