Dying Young

Monday afternoon we got the call.  I was sitting at the kitchen table helping the boys with their homework.  Mike, my husband, was putting the finishing touches on dinner when his phone rang.  I heard him say things like, "I can't believe this. How could this happen?"  I knew it was bad.

On the other end of the line was Mike's dad calling to let us know that his cousin's wife had died suddenly that afternoon.  My mind immediately went back to the meal we had shared just a few short weeks ago.  I sat across the table from her as we talked about kids and work and all sorts of things.  36 days.  That's all she had left on this Earth.

Then I immediately thought of her sweet husband and young son.  How is this little boy going to wake up every day without his mother?  He is so small.  He needs his mother.  I looked across the table at my boys and wondered what their lives would be like without me.

Just like me, she was overweight and out of shape.  She was a busy mom who probably did not make her health a priority, just like me.  The cause of her death is suspected to be a fatal blood clot, a condition that is linked with obesity. 

All week this thought has been resonating in my heart:  My health affects more than just me.  My health affects my boys, my sweet boys who need their mother.  I don't want them to wake up without me. 

Since that phone call on Monday everything is much more real.  James 4:14 says "You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."  I know that God is in control of my days and when it is my time to go, that's it.  I just want give this life everything I've got.  I want my boys to be proud of me.  I want them to see me beat this thing.

36 days was all she had left.  I wonder what she would have done during those last 36 days if she had known this was the end. 

Celeste