Monday, March 21, 2005

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

At the desk in my home where I sit to write this is a faded and aged index card. It has sat on my desk for months now. EH doesn’t ask about it, though he surely sees it where it lies in plain sight. There’s a recipe scrawled on it. A recipe I have no interest in preparing. I just like the card. My grandmother wrote this. She passed away in 1996 and we were very close. I like seeing her familiar writing sometimes. It brings her back to me in a small way.

I just finished reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom. It was wonderful, very inspirational. It tells the story of a man who dies and the five people that he meets in heaven, each one with their own connection to his life and their own wisdom to impart.

So many parts of the book moved me.

The Blue Man held out his hand. “Fairness,” he said, “does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young.”

I thought of Jessica Marie Lunsford as I read that passage and it sank in. I am consumed with my sense of balance and fairness. Life is not fair. We’ve heard it so many times, but understanding it is another step.

Marguerite says: ”All weddings,” she said happily. “That was my choice. A world of weddings behind every door. Oh, Eddie, it never changes, when the groom lifts the veil, when the bride accepts the ring, the possibilities you see in their eyes, it’s the same around the world. They truly believe their love and their marriage is going to break all the records.”

She smiled. “Do you think we had that?”

Our wedding was small and simple. We hardly noticed. We somehow managed to escape the notions of miles of tulle and white lights and flowers in our rush to say “I do”. The night was a blur but for two moments. One, I shared in another post was our first dance as husband and wife. The second is my stepmother’s voice overheard in conversation with someone else as EH and I stood together greeting our family and friends as husband and wife.

She said, “I’ve never seen her smile like that…”

People say they “find” love, as if it were an object hidden by a rock. But love takes many forms, and it is never the same for any man and woman. What people find then is a certain love.

I loved before I loved EH, but it paled in comparison. However much love and tenderness there was seems insignificant with what I came to have in EH. A love that is accepting and open and encouraging. A love that is so much more than I knew there could be.

And a love that continues to grow with me, in me, because of me and sometimes in spite of me.

It’s going to be a lovely life…

I wonder who the five people would be that I would meet. I wonder if I will be on of the five you would meet.

What lesson would we impart to one another?

In the book, Ruby’s words were the most meaningful of all to me. I won’t type them here. If you wonder, you’ll read it yourself.

Posted by Red :: 6:34 AM :: | ---------------------------------------