I've sat down to write this post every night since Tuesday. Each time it's been too hard and I've put the computer down. Before you worry, we are fine; sad, but fine.
On Tuesday we found out that the wife of one of Bryan's classmates was in the hospital with a severe Strep A infection just days after giving birth to their third child and that she did not have any brain activity. She was Cooper's soccer coach last fall and one of the happiest, smiliest people I've come across. We gathered as a family and prayed that her family would have the strength that they needed.
I was at Book Club that night when Bryan sent me the text: her family was taking her off of life support.
It might seem odd that I'm writing about someone that was an acquaintance. Though I knew her only in passing, her death has hit me hard. I think part of it is that she and her family just finished this difficult road of the MBA program. I think another part is that she has two little boys and a brand new baby girl. That two-boys-and-a-girl combo often makes me feel an immediate emotional connection. Mostly, I think about my own family and the heartbreak of children without a mother.
I've cried a lot over the past few days. I've hugged my family more and I've lost count of the prayers I've said, both for her family and for mine.
A bright spot in the midst of the clouds this week is the response that this family has gotten. I have been amazed by how quickly the MBA students and their spouses mobilized to help them. Baby-sitting, meals, job searches for this now-single father, clothes for the children, all have been offered and many have been accepted and organized.
Up until Tuesday afternoon, we had been focusing on our own trials that felt so overwhelming. Now the problems that we're facing pale. Bryan and I have our children and each other and we are an eternal family.
And for that I am truly thankful.
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2 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. I can understand why you'd be heartbroken, even if she was someone you weren't especially close to. Just reading it was heartbreaking for me (is it the two-boys-one-girl combo, like you said??) and I feel for her family.
We lost someone in our ward "family" a year ago and I still think of her at least once a week. She wasn't someone I was close to but I miss her still.
You are right; thank goodness for the gospel and that the knowledge that this is not the end and families are eternal. These experiences can definitely put your own into perspective.
This has been such a horrible thing to experience, even though I'd never met her. It has been on my mind so much. I hate hate hate that her family has to go through this. What a sad and scary experience for them.
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