rest

My friend's father died yesterday. Today she came to church in pink, talking about his death as if it were another story told to regale children, except that gathered around her were people with faces more sombre than hers. The peace and (something close to) joy she exhibited was baffling. Granted it was because she believed her father had gone to a Better Place, and was spared another round of chemo, but still. In my lifetime I have been to many many Christian funerals but nothing comes close to her peace and (might I say even) exuberance. She was genuinely thankful.

In the back of my mind was the niggling thought that it was all a show; she must be exceptionally strong then (which she is.). When she described her father's death - how he drove himself to the hospital and died, tubeless and not hooked up to any machine, with a smile on his face- other people cried, not her.

Maybe the loss hasn't struck her yet, the skeptic in me says. But another part of me wants to believe that it is totally possible for people to be happy at a loved one's death, not just because he.she is spared from the pain of old age/terminal illness, but because of hope in the Better Place and Things To Come.

On a more human side, her son, age 5, (also my Club Penguin playpal), didn't come to church today because he was inconsolable and couldn't stop crying. His brother said,

"Maybe when we go home the house will be flooded".

This is a picture of my Club Penguin friend in happier times. May he bounce back soon.