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Friday, January 22, 2016

Tearing Apart

How do you say goodbye to people you love? Quick and painless? Long or drawn out? Weeping and wailing? Like it’s no big deal? Other? (Serendipity Bible Fourth Edition, page 1553).


My uncle Rollin died when I was still a child.  Daddy traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for his brother’s funeral. There, my father and Aunt Estelle surely consoled one another. The next year, we visited Tuscaloosa on a family vacation. At the completion of the vacation, our leaving was particularly hard on Aunt Estelle and  my father. I remember them weeping.

The tearing nature of parting with loved ones depends upon whether the sound of time’s winged chariot intrudes upon the farewell implying a permanent mortal separation. The age, health, and perception of those at the gathering all contribute weight. As a youth I felt remote and separated from the occasional parting sadness, but now I’m becoming increasingly acquainted with these little deaths.


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