Soul Portal

What a week! It was busy, it was exhausting, it was fun. Blogging seemed to take a back seat all week, but there was barely a moment when Roger was not on my mind. 

This was prep week for the annual Windermere Run Among the Lakes 5K. It was one of the highlights of his year (as I probably mentioned previously.)  I was always thinking of banners, and flags, and music ~ which of course, he found to be nonsense. He focused on coffee, donuts, tables - and a trash can - and chairs for friends. His focus was on getting to talk to the racers. Mine was on making sure the ambiance was right.  Crazy, right?

Prep week was fun though. The weather was beautiful all week, which can be rare in April...all this cool weather. The 80% off flowers perked up and even flowered by race day! The peace lily (gifts to the family during funeral week) were finally starting to become happy in their newly planted locations and were blooming. Enough pruning was done on the trees, that we even had some breeze and sunlight. Whee! And the new, red, adirondack chairs just added the pop of color that was much needed. On race day we even added a big red ribbon to the massive camphor tree in the front yard. (more on that later!)

On Thursday morning Sean and Mary arrived. We were so happy to see them. I'm sure they were happy to have such great weather here, since they had spent so much of the winter confined to their little newlywed loft in Virginia. Brrr. I can not even imagine being so cold for so long!

After a walk up to school and back, the girls met me at the appointed place on the sidewalk. It was the 10th, so we had a date with chalk. Jacob arrived shortly thereafter and joined us in leaving messages at Roger's portal. As silly as it might sound, we call it his "portal to Heaven.'  Some days I would like to just stand right there and say "beam me up, Scotty."  I know, though, that God had a plan and has a plan and that He has numbered my days just like he did Roger's. 

I have also made it a point to allow this to become a place of peace and solice rather than a place of sadness and sorrow. Somehow in the past two months, I have tried to daily focus on the positives rather than the loss. (Boy, that is not an easy thing some days either) God has shown me time and again that the sun will continue to shine and that you only really get to know His warmth and the depth of His love when you experience tears and sorrow. How people get through loss without Him, I just can not imagine.

Yes, this spot has become a special one. For the first time, Emily chalked sunshine. Jacob does not generally get to chalk after school (Sports schedule) but he chalked Ro-Ro's favorite food ...donuts....he was a firefighter after all and donuts go with the job! 

We chalk in a place where Roger took his last steps on this earth. It is a place where he took his last breath, but he did not take it alone. He had a neighbor/friend at his side. She called for help. The mystery person who arrived on the scene immediately, we call our angel. The off duty detective who saw a need and stopped was another blessing, as was our own Windermere Officer who arrived almost immediately. Ocoee's Engine 39 and crew never gave up, and the staff at the hospital refused to believe there was no hope.  In fact, they were right. There was always hope, and there still is hope. 
If you make the wise decisions while you walk this earth, the main one being where you will spend eternity, then you never give up the hope. Even when you take your last breath, there is hope, because  that hope is in Heaven, for eternity. Eternity with Jesus.  

And when you think about it, nothing could be better. Even life on this earth - for it is only part of the eternal journey. 

Roger's Lesson:  Oh, I am pretty sure that it is that we are eternal beings. We don't have a soul...we ARE a soul.  And don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. 

Now he has me wondering where my portal will be.