inhale...exhale...relax your shoulders...repeat as often as needed

Sunday, December 20, 2009

the deepest, darkest times

Our friend Erin left this world on Friday afternoon. 

Mary's email said simply, "Erin is at peace. 4:40PM"

Our world has been diminished by Erin's passing. And what to do now, while so many of us try to get used to the world without Erin's smile, her determination, her loving spirit and her fierce courage? It is one of the deep mysteries I have absolutely no answer for. 

And yet, this season invites us, over and over again to turn toward the light...to love more, hope more, in spite of the darkness...

So simple, but so, so hard.

"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love."
-Thornton Wilder

Peace and love to you, Mary, Dave, Chris, Sarah and Matthew. We are right next to you in spirit, despite the many miles between us.

6 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry for your loss... at least now she is at peace after her long struggle. Having recently lost someone myself, I feel your pain acutely in this cold time. As you said in your earlier post about Erin, "We are all connected to one another in this world." Sending healing thoughts your way to help ease your transition from a world with Erin to a world a bit more without her now. Still, her smile will continue to warm your heart, after the tears are gone.

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  2. My deepest sympathies for the loss of your young friend. Obviously I've spent many, many hours thinking about this very difficult subject lately. I've had to reacquaint myself with faith, which is an act of turning towards the light. I find I need to work on it every day, from morning 'til night.

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  3. Wishes for healing and light your way, Karen. In our solstice service today we acknowledged the need to honor the darkness before turning to the light. I will be thinking of Erin's family and your own as you move through this long night. I'm sure there's a star burning more brightly in the heavens tonight. When the time to leave the hearth comes, its light will be there - all in time.

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  4. I'm so sorry to hear that Erin has lost her battle with cancer, Karen.
    How sad for you and your family (and, of course, for hers). I'm sending you my love and sincere wishes that you can find peace with this very upsetting loss.

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  5. Physics -- perhaps the hardest of hard sciences -- reminds us that matter and energy can be niether created nor destroyed, only transformed. It is hard to endure the absence of the familiar material forms of the ones we love and have lost, but their energy lingers, their light and their warmth.

    pacem,
    Melanie

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  6. Many thanks to each of you for your sweet comments...

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