For SK

I think Emily Dickinson wrote it best in that one poem on death.

I am no stranger to death, but it's always surprising and unexpected when it shows up in my neighborhood.

A friend of mine that I've known for almost 20 years had recently passed from lymphoma. She had been dealing with it for the last few years but really had to fight it these last few months.

It is disheartening to know that she and I were the same age. We had more or less grew up, graduated, and came back to serve in the same church. What is more disheartening is the void that is left in all the lives that had been graced by her presence.  

She was one of the sweetest and most caring people I knew. If we were of the Catholic persuasion, she definitely would have been on the short list for sainthood. I always balked at the saying of "wouldn't hurt a fly," but I now see that as true when I think back on her character.

It is of and should be a comfort to know that Heaven has now welcomed her to its fold.

My writings here today may not do her justice, but I want to remember who she was when I look back to this and when time eventually robs us of our memory.

SK, you are and will be dearly missed.