Saying our Goodbyes

 Saying our Goodbyes

Like King Lemuel in Proverbs 31

hanging on every word of his mother,

our family gathered ‘round

our Gibraltar, this monolith of mercy,

as she roused and poised herself

to share her last will and testament.

 

She hasn’t riches to bequeath,

but her heart is a teeming vault,

her words a priceless currency

waiting to be deposited

like a wire transfer into our souls.

Sitting on the floor, in chairs,

on armrests and on laps,

we each leaned in with wonder—

sorrowfully and eagerly—

waiting for our unique inheritance.

 

She poured out her heart like

priceless perfume from her alabaster jar.

It was ‘a beautiful thing’—

like the woman in Matthew 26

I haven’t a shadow of doubt that 

“wherever the gospel is preached,

what she has done will also be told

in memory of her.”

 

May it be so.

 

We all responded to her gift of blessing

with our gifts of homage and honor

each person in our family 

letting her know the indelible imprint

she has left on our souls—

her fingerprints will never fade. 

 

Who could ever forget how she touched us?

 

As we laughed and cried,

listened and shared,

Caleb had his head buried in his blanket.

Lord only knows what a 9 year old

is experiencing in that holy moment,

but I invited him to my lap.

He curled up like a little baby,

all 110 pounds of him,

and wept into my heaving chest.

 

Our family must have cried

a quart of tears that destined day

as we let her go and she let us go.

Nothing was left unsaid,

all our perfume poured out

on each other in full,

not a single drop left.

 

When it’s my time to go,

I hope I do it just like my mother.