I said YES!!

On February 4th, 2007 my daughter came to our room to tell us she had a bad cold and did not feel like she could make it to church that morning. We knew she was really feeling poorly because she didn’t want to miss church. Her youth choir was singing that morning and she loved to sing. We told her she would have to call Mr. Charlie and tell him that she could not make it to sing that morning. The day was uneventful as we sat around and watched movies. At one point Beth looked up at me and asked me if I would help her build pom-pom buddies. These were little creatures she would make out of the little puff balls and an occasional pipe cleaner. I told her that I would as soon as the movie we were all watching was over. As is usual, when that movie ended another began and we started watching it. A few minutes into it Beth turned to me and said, “I guess we will wait until this movie is over to make the pom-pom buddies.” So I told her that I promised her we would make the crafts when the first movie was over and she just needed to bring the stuff into the living room. She hopped up and ran and got her supplies. We put paper down on the coffee table and got out the glue and the brightly colored puffs of yarn. Not being creative I immediately made what any man would make. A caterpillar. I figured it would be easy to glue a series of these puffs in a row, make a set of antenna, and put a couple of eyes on the first puff. Beth was much more creative than I was so she made a frog for her friend Hillary who evidently liked frogs. Not to be outdone I grabbed a larger, bright orange puff. I put smaller puffs at the base of it and, three eyes later, as well as a small set of red “lips,” had an alien. She loved it. It reminded her of a creature on one of the cartoon movies she liked. The look of joy on her face was worth every minute. It was definitely time well spent. It would have been a memorable day regardless of the circumstances that would follow just a few hours later. Today the caterpillar sits atop her desk in the study looking down on the empty space that once held her books. The alien protects her mother as it rides on the dashboard of her car. And the frog? It made it to its intended destination. There are a few things that I look back on 4 years ago. Some with dread, but some with joy. I cannot imagine how I would have felt had I said no to her request to do arts and crafts with Beth that day. But instead I said yes. A few hours after playing with my daughter I was holding her in my arms as she was disoriented by what I thought was either the flu or a virus. I snuggled behind her in bed and held her close praying for her to feel better. Suddenly she sat up in bed, spun around, and hugged me extra tight. I didn’t know it then but my holding her then and telling her that everything was going to be okay would be the last time I would speak to her. I believe, and will never be convinced otherwise, that she saw Jesus and turned to give me one last hug before running to her reward. I believe she was telling me good-bye and thanking me for saying yes. My intentions in sharing this with you is to make you understand, not the pain in losing a child, but the joy in spending time with them. It will not be time wasted and I guarantee that you will get more out of it than they will. God bless.