We have been watching the engagements announcements like we watch the lives of our former students take shape. Some of you are graduating from college and moving to another city to be more who you want to be. Some of you have started new jobs that are far from what you thought you would do. Some of you took the long way to find what you really enjoy and what makes you happy. Some of you have found the love of your life. Some of you faced difficult challenges through loss and dreams dashed.
Our little community has seen its fare share of loss. Our best friend, father, mother, brother, sister and grandparent leaving this place we call home to go to another home, close yet far, to remain in our hearts and memories forever. It is hard and it is the time we feel most human, the smallest of beings, the biggest of spirit and the rawest of emotion. We feel the most connected to just how short life is. How fleeting, yet full the beauty of life and the relationships we get to love.
A former students is doing her dissertation in forensic anthropology. Essentially, she is analyzing human remains in order to give that person a name, a family and a place in history. Some youth groups will go to the funeral of the unknown to bear witness to the lonely veteran or the homeless addict or the forgotten elder who passed quietly in a shelter. I love that we are there for people even when they are gone. Even if we didn’t know them, we are there to hold their memory, their soul in our thoughts. And we grow into who we are supposed to be.
Wildflower Special Events 