One year later

One year ago today, Grandad got up and got dressed to go have breakfast with his best friend, Buster.  I'm sure they chatted and played dominoes and had a good time, then he probably met Babah at Virginia's Cafe and enjoyed talking to all his friends there.  He had a normal day, walking and talking and laughing and eating and reading and listening and telling stories, and he went to bed that night expecting to do the same thing the next day...

I've been thinking about that a bit this week - how this day last year was his last "good" day, the last day things felt normal for him, the last day he could walk and use his left arm and swallow food and take care of himself without great effort and constant assistance.  

He had a stroke while at breakfast with Buster on March 5, 2019, and the effects were sudden and devastating.  His next four months were spent at Mercy Rehab Hospital, then Bradford Village nursing home, where he rapidly lost 50 pounds because he was unable to eat solid foods or drink water without thickening powder.  He was finally released to move back home in July (with rotating nurses and others who helped care for him), and after celebrating his 90th birthday, he died and moved on to Heaven last August, which I've already written about a lot here.

I miss him.  I can see God's grace in the timing of so many things, looking back on it.  And thinking about this particular day makes me feel very aware that time moves quickly and none of us know (or control) what tomorrow will bring for us or the people we love.  So we should take that to heart and make the most of our time and relationships and health today in the seemingly ordinary, present moment... we should be thankful for the little things we tend to take for granted, and trust in God's goodness and sovereignty over our future. ❤

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

~Ephesians 5:15-16

"The course of my life is in Your power;

rescue me from the power of my enemies and from my persecutors."

~Psalm 31:15

"Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring--what your life will be!

For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

What you should say is this: 'If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.'"

~James 4:14-15

"Teach us to number our days carefully

so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts."

~Psalm 90:12