The Days are Long, but the Years are Short

Waking up.

Taking a shower.

Drinking my coffee.

Driving to work.

Checking e-mail.

Eating lunch.

Driving home.

Picking up Flannery from school.

These are the times today that I've thought about my sweet friend Rachel. Rachel, a friend from grad school, who just lost her sweet 4 year old daughter in a car accident on Friday. Rachel, who is pregnant with twins. Rachel, whose car rolled several times with her, her husband, and her daughter inside. Rachel, who had to bury her four year old daughter on Monday.

I just keep imagining what she must be feeling throughout her day. Waking up to the reality that her daughter is gone. Taking a shower, or not taking a shower. Walking through a quiet house. Eating, drinking, or not eating and drinking at all. I feel it all too strongly.

We're about the same age. With the same job. And girls who were about the same age. And wonderful husbands with strong faith. And on Friday, at about the same time they were driving, my husband and I left for a long road trip with our sweet daughter buckled in her car seat in the back of the car, too.

Who knows why things happen. What awful string of events led young people high on drugs to be driving the same roads as Rachel and her family. Why their daughter was lost while they were spared.

But what we do know is that loss is real. Pain is strong. And we can feel it even if it doesn't touch us directly.

The days are long, but the years are short.

Today I am treasuring these precious days and years.





If you pray, please pray for my sweet friend and her family in the next few weeks.