Well, I know Monday Moments with Mimi are supposed to happen on Mondays, but I hope you will understand why this is a day late after reading my mom's post for this week.
We had a family celebration Monday night in honor of my cousin Landon's 21st birthday...I think you'll understand more after you read below.
I do want to say that I am so incredibly thankful for my family and for the legacy of strength, grace, and faith that has been left for me and for future generations! Praying that we all live out such a legacy for those in our spheres of influence... Blessings to you and yours! Shannon
Green in His Honor
I returned home tonight with every intention of typing the finishing lines of this week’s “Cleaning House” post and emailing it to my daughter for my weekly Monday Moment with Mimi. I only had one more paragraph left to write. It should have been completed in a timely matter with just the addition of a few witty closing lines, but the gaiety of my heart escaped me. I was not necessarily sad, but I found that I had lost the ability to bring insightful wit and humor to my writing for tonight anyway.
See I have just come from an impromptu family birthday “tribute” for my nephew which was given by his mom, my sister-in-law. Landon would have been 21 today. But at the age 16, while on staff at a Christian Youth Camp in Colorado, he was struck by lightning and ushered into the presence of the Father. 5 years…in some ways it seems like just yesterday, and in other ways in seems like an eternity since we saw him last.
In actuality, we did not really have a birthday “party” for him, but rather a remembrance. Landon’s mom decorated the dining room in his favorite color—green. Balloons and crepe paper were draped around the dining room chandelier, and even his mom wore green in his honor. She provided us all with pizza and the donuts—his favorite foods!!!!
The small children ran throughout the house playing hide and seek as the adults shared conversations, stories, and memories. Lighthearted chatter sprinkled with loud laughter came as we remembered and celebrated our love as a family. Landon’s life was full of joy, and we truly miss him, but tonight I mainly want to share with you about his mom, Sharon. Her life over the past few years has been a journey of faith and fortitude. I have no doubt that our children will benefit greatly from her example of endurance while on this journey we call life.
It was not on purpose, but as the evening came to a close, most of the family left the get together at around the same time and headed to our individual houses. It was almost a mini-parade as various vehicles left the driveway, one behind the other. As we rode down the road to my home, my daughter and I noted that driving away from my sister-in-law’s home brought on a somewhat melancholy spirit. We were a bit saddened to be leaving this impromptu “party” that she had sweetly invited us to.
But I was reminded as we drove of one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Seuss, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” I feel incredibly blessed to be part of a family that at a moment’s notice comes together to celebrate a birth, grieve a loss, or have this kind of a “party.”
So I smiled in my heart, because tonight had happened; we had been a part of a celebration, strange as it seems. My sister-in-law has truly walked a path most mothers cannot even imagine. But tonight she graciously welcomed us into her home and her heart as we remembered Landon’s birthday. She grieved, but with all the beauty of a lady of great conviction.
I smile now, because I realize that I have not just been to a “party” tonight, but I have been a part of a “journey” over the last five years with a godly lady of great strength. She has fearlessly walked this path, and has set an example for all to follow. She has taught us the importance of REMEMBERING, all the while never wavering from her faith. I am so grateful for our laughter as a family tonight. But more importantly, I will forever be thankful for my lessons learned from her along this journey!!!! Blessings, Mimi (AKA Anne)
Psalm 101:6
"My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
the one whose walk is blameless
will minister to me."
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