Death and Life

I was driving Jarrod to his bike race at the Velodrome on Wednesday night. As I got to one of the intersections on the main road that takes me from our house to the velodrome, there was a road block and we had to take a detour. I was annoyed because we were running a bit late and I still needed to stop and pick up batteries for the camera before we got there. I took the detour and we got there on time. I didn't really give any thought as to why there was a detour.

Later that day Scott told me that there had been a bad accident on that road, and that some of the people had been seriously injured. I felt bad at my annoyance over the inconvenience of taking a detour, but with a busy life, again I didn't really give it any thought.

Last night Scott put the obituary section of the local newspaper on the kitchen table and shared that we had known the lady that had been killed in the accident. Her name was Brandi and she was the waitress that had served us the last time we visited a local diner. The picture of her is from when she was younger and I honestly didn't recognize her face. Scott remembers everyone though - so he did.

I'm just struck at how all this life and death happens all around me and sometimes I am barely even aware of it. Caught up in the urgency of getting where I am going, taking care of family and kids, feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by all the details sometimes. That day, I wonder if she too was caught up in it all - trying to get her kids somewhere on time and running a bit late, feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by it all. Then all of a sudden there was an unexpected collision and she breathed her last breath - entered eternity in a matter of seconds and it was all behind her. She was 2 years younger than I am. She had a family to take care of too, a job, a husband, so many responsibilities, so many people who needed her here.

Life is uncertain. Life is hectic, frustrating, overwhelming - it sucks the life out of us sometimes. It is life though and death stops it dead in it's tracks. Then we have no more opportunities to make things better - to love more, forgive more, laugh more, cry more, live more imperfect days together with everyone else alive. When we go to the diner now, she will never again bring us our little pots of hot water for tea or our 2 eggs over light with wheat toast and home fries. We will never have a chance to be gracious and thankful for her service and give her a good tip for serving us so well. Her children will miss her smile and even her scolding. Her husband will miss her warm body next to his in bed at night. Her friends and co-workers will miss her laugh and spunk.

So as I live another day, I will try to remember that people need me too and I need them. I will try to be thankful for life even on the hard days and not wish it away. One day it will be over. That will come too quickly and possibly when I least expect it, like it did for Brandi. I will try not to be annoyed at the inconveniences that life brings, because that is part of life and being alive. When we are alive we are imperfect, life is imperfect, others are imperfect and that makes life imperfectly perfect. I will try to accept and enjoy this imperfectly perfect life one day at a time and pray that I have many more days to do so.

As I was typing my blog this morning, my youngest came and brought me tea and oatmeal for breakfast (not sure why.) She just asked me if I wanted orange juice too and if I liked my toast dark or light. Just another reminder of how imperfectly perfect my life can be. Being treated to breakfast by my own little waitress this morning.

Rest in Peace, Brandi. Praying that you are with the Father this morning, enjoying breakfast and being served at His table.