The Gift by Guest Blogger Randy

Guest Post by Randy 

From LeGette:

 I am thankful for the gift of this guest post written by my brother Randy.  Every creative effort I have made has been inspired and nourished by him. As children, he taught me to create imaginary worlds where my Teddy Bear played in a hard rock band and lived in a fancy apartment in my desk drawer. A world where the ultra clean cut police from the TV show Adam-12 were replaced with cops more like Dirty Harry. A world where improvisational songs about his roommate's smelly shoes could tell an hour long story.  He taught me that as long as we can be creative, we are never confined to this earth. We can go anywhere and we can be whoever we want. 

Luke 24:5 “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

The Gift

Often in literature and motion pictures, the question is raised, “what if you could have one more day with the departed?” My family received that gift last Christmas.

My mother had been valiantly fighting cancer for almost three years. Although she put up a brave front, in the final few months of the disease, it had clearly taken its toll. The double edged sword of chemotherapy had aged her tremendously. It had slowed her walk, shortened her breath, affected her mood and mental clearness, and revealed to the rest of us what we already knew but did not speak of. Her time remaining was short.

As we approached the holidays, this reality cast a dark cloud over our family and spirit. Joyous festivities of cooking, shopping, wrapping presents were replaced with hospital visits and doctor consultations.

Thanksgiving came and went; my mother was present at the table but had no appetite. She was unusually quiet and withdrawn.

Despite these changes that we all could see, my eldest brother planned a family reunion Christmas gathering at his house. It was scheduled just a few days before Christmas. We weren’t sure if my mother would even feel up to attending. However, invitations were sent and accepted, and our entire extended family, 25 strong and spread out over hundreds of miles, gathered on a Sunday afternoon.

And a glorious afternoon it was. The sky was of a brilliant blue that would have made Van Gogh envious.  On what typically would have been a cold day in our city, instead was a borrowed day from June, with temperatures flirting in the low 80s. And as if time was suspended for this one day, my mother arrived renewed, refreshed, her fashion reputation intact; dressed in her finest holiday attire with matching accessories.

Her smile was as brilliant as the sun, her disposition as light as the breeze that accompanied us as we gathered for an outdoor photograph. She relished holding the great-grandchildren newborns, playing with the toddlers, and engaging in conversations with the older grandchildren, about their lives and future plans.  My Dad never took his adoring eyes off of her, their 6 decade marriage on display as a life and love lesson for all gathered.

For that one day, we did not talk about doctors.

For that one day, we did not talk about hospitals.

For that one day, we did not talk about cancer.

For that one day, we got our mother back.

And on that one day, once again she was the strong, beautiful, radiant, rock of our family.

After exchanging gifts and many hugs, the day ended as quickly as it had begun. And reality returned on the back of the setting sun.

Mom passed away 8 weeks later, her frail body mercifully granted rest.  As long as I live I will never forget that December day. Out mother returned to us that glorious day, a Christmas gift above all others past and present.  

I thank God for that gift.

And I no longer look for the living among the dead.