More Than Today

I remember when I was a Sophomore in High School adjusting to the school district having reassigned high school students from Victory to Franklin High School. I had gone to Victory from fifth grade through ninth grade and had such great friends there and then the districts merged and we had to go by bus 25 miles each way because there was a bridge out along the way. 50 miles each day on the bus with friends from my old school and then thrust into the mix of students from Franklin High School. It wasn’t my choice. I was reassigned. Then in the middle of my Junior year of High School after only being there for a year and a half my Dad was reassigned from one church he pastored to another, from a village to a town. We only moved a half dozen miles or so but it was a different school district, Grove City, and once again I was displaced. It was my third high school and I was with people I didn’t know at all. It wasn’t my choice. I had been reassigned schools because my Dad was reassi...

Today, October 2, you would have been 96 years old. We would have talked about how close you were getting to being one century old and we would have eaten cake and had balloons and laughed and I would have told you how much I loved you. You would have smiled and kissed me as I bent to kiss you and give you a hug and feel yours in return. Instead of getting close to a century-old you left before reaching a half-century. 49 just wasn’t old enough especially since I only knew you 22 of those years. When I last saw you I didn’t recognize you because you looked so old and frail in that hospital bed. We didn’t know that I would be the last one to see you alive. I would have stayed longer if I just would have known. And I know you would have stayed longer if you could have. I’ll never forget that last summer when I was home and wishing I wasn’t, wishing I was still with my friends from college where I had just graduated but instead I was home with you and Dad. I felt so alone ...