Life and Death
This past week, I’ve had several people close to me suffer the loss of a loved one. One person lost her mother-in-law. Another lost a child. And two others lost their spouses. Of course, when death happens, we really begin to see things differently, don’t we? For some reason that I can’t explain, though, I’ve really been touched by it this time. This go ‘round, I’ve seen the emptiness of our lives, as well as the fulness. What I mean by “emptiness” is the little, petty arguments and irritations that seem to take up so much of our time together. We get irritated at one another over the littlest things — dirty dishes in the sink or on the counter, squeezing the toothpaste in the middle instead of the end (or visa versa), being awakened after finally getting to sleep by a seemingly silly question, putting the toilet paper on the “wrong” way, interrupted while doing our favorite activity, etc. We argue about money or bills or housework or driving or whatever. And, sometimes, those argum...