Dear Terri…
Are you aware of how much I think of you these days? I miss you at such random times. Sometimes when I hear a certain song on the radio, I think of you, and I think of you every time I read one of your daughters fb posts. She has your loving heart and I can see why you were so proud of her. I thought of you when we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and saw a picture of you wearing one of those beautiful bridesmaid gowns. We set these photos out for the family to see and knew that you would have loved to share in our celebration! You were my roommate before we got married and You and I got married 3 months apart, you being the first to walk down the aisle. I wonder what you can see here on earth? Do you know what we think, say and do? There are many viewpoints written out there on the life we have after this life. I wonder what lessons you could share with me that I should learn?

I sometimes think of my life as being represented by an old sweater and my personal losses of loved ones are represented by holes in my sweater. YOU left a huge hole in my sweater when you left! My goodness how much I miss you! That hole is taking a lot of time to mend.

My sweater is filled with many holes that have developed through the years and I fear it may be getting close to unraveling, which, of course it will at some point, but I keep myself busy mending those holes as best I can! Sweaters just do not last forever. My sweater has kept me warm and gives me a sense of security when I wrap myself in it, but now it feels less sturdy and resilient than it once was. Too many holes.

Early on in my life one of the first memorable holes developed when I lost my first real boyfriend in the service. That was also a big hole and it took me a long time to mend it. Four more holes developed when I lost my most wonderful grandparents each of whom left an impression on my life. Each had their own lessons to teach me, just by being who they were and the actions they took in life. Grandparents are Gods gift to us of unconditional love and I felt it with each and everyone of them! Two more big holes showed up when my parents died and honestly, those holes were very difficult to mend, almkst impossible to fill in. Several more holes showed up when Aunts and Uncles died, more holes with young cousins, and more with additional friends…oh my! My sweater is so full of mended holes. The mending keeps my sweater (life) from falling apart, but the mended areas are clearly visible to me as reminders that there are no guarantees in life! None whatsoever! How long do we walk this earth? We do not know but what we do know is that we should make our time here as full and valuable as possible.

You and I had the Lucy and Ethel monikers going for the 50+ years we knew each other. I remember how, as roomies, we used to watch the old black and white reruns of the “I love Lucy” show and crack up over their many follies! Somehow I became Lucy and you were Ethel.

Ahhh, well…..Sometimes it takes THIS long before a person understands that the payment we make for a long life comes with the relinquishing of people we love who go back to God before us. It does make me wonder about being the “last man standing”! I am not sure what I think of that. But, God in His wisdom has all this perfectly planned out and I trust God!

O.k. Ethel…I am going outside to check on my plants. We had quite the thunder boomer last night with a LOT of rain! I don’t know when I will be joining you, but please save me a seat. We’ll have a lot of catching up to do when the time comes!

Until then,
Much love,
Lucy (Juanita)