we are all children, of the living God

This morning 33 men return to a world of sun and air and family
again
after 69 days of other world living
and the world cheers
and prays
and talks of miracles

life is a blessing
to be clung to
to celebrate
to live

In August Bernie memorialized the 50th anniversary of her father's death
....he died on her 10th birthday....
Last week we celebrated Alison's birthday
...sharing the same date that her mother died...

two friends, two birthdays, two losses

and just this past week Carolyn and Bernie lost their mother-in-laws
   they were both into their nineties

I had my mother-in-law for only the first year of our marriage...
my husband, my sisters and brothers-in-law lost their mom

and Amy Haines left a new born and his two sisters when she died
and Lisa Styles was just taken from her little ones and her husband this summer

my mother

my mother's mother and me!

me and our first born child

our daughter in law...and her mother-in-law and our first born grandchild...

we were all once just little children

grown men
surviving and rescuing
returning to wives and parents and their own little ones
    are all someone's child

we all have the old photos of us being babies
of our parents being young
and then we grow
we live our lives

and what we know, we know
what we didn't get, we didn't get
what we didn't have, we didn't have
what we got, we got

so many variations of life...

so many deaths
untimely
before birth, in the womb
as newborns
children
youth
before they have a chance to live a life
young fathers
young mothers
the elderly
suicide
cancers
disease
accidents
murder

and against all odds
some live to celebrate many birthdays in their nineties
   and even making it to 100 and beyond

and against all odds
sometimes it's only 69 days....
that we cheer and celebrate

but it's every day
one day at a precious time
one breath at a time
as long as they shall come

and I believe
when our breath leaves us
   that breath that our Creator breathed into His creation
it returns to the Father
and He breaths in
what He once breathed out

and we are again in the perfect, gentle, never-ending love of Our Father
in the sun
and the air
and the family

of the living God

and I know there we will receive the biggest snuggle of our life...
just on the other side