Sad Story

Jake and I were at the park yesterday evening.. a woman was there with her three little blonde kids, ages 5,4 and 2. They would play and come over and sit on their mom's lap and hug her and talk to her. I thought, what a close family. What a truly close relationship these kids have with their mom--I looked over and saw that they had ridden their bikes to the park. The two youngest in a bike buggy that their mom had pulled and the oldest boy on his own bike. We started talking to her, she asked about Jake's job and so in turn, we asked about her husband. It seemed a bit odd, for a mom to be out with her kids alone so close to twilight. She paused a moment, then told us her husband had passed away three months ago from Leukemia. He had been through a year and a half of chemotherapy and finally lost his battle. Jake and I felt her spirit so strong it was tangible. We both fought back tears while listening to her struggles and picturing her raising her children alone. She was smiling the whole time and also had tears in her eyes. It really brought things into perspective for us... we are so lucky. She also told us how she looked forward to seeing him again and how excited she was to be sealed to him forever. And SERIOUSLY she was smiling the whole time. She was the most amazing person. Jake looked over at me as we left the park and said, "looks like we just had the best family home evening lesson in a long time".