ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠAs I sat at Matt Cowdrey's funeral on Saturday, my mind was flooded with thoughts, but time and again since Matt's death, I've come back to two seemingly trite yet absolutely fundamental, not-to-be-forgotten truths: our children are the most profound and precious of gifts, and life itself is honestly and startlingly fleeting.
Yes, we have to provide our children with the guidance, structure, high expectations, and everyday love they need in order to thrive. But Matt's death reminds me that somehow, while seeing to those daily needs, we need to stay just as mindful of what a gift our children are, how tenuous and precious it all really is.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠI frequently think of a powerful little volume I read shortly after Amelia's death. John Claypool's book Tracks of a Fellow Struggler contained words that went something like this: “our children are gifts, pure and simple, something we neither earn nor deserve nor have a right to.” I try to be ever mindful of this with my son Charlie and, in fact, in my work with all of your children. Every day I try to show gratitude for the gifts that they are. Maybe a final blessing that Matt's life can bestow on all of us is to have us stop, marvel at, and even savor, the profound blessings that surround us everyday.