Today is All Souls Day and yesterday was All Saints Day. I have to admit that until I looked it up this morning I didn’t make the distinction. My fault. However, as I get older these days on the Christian calendar have more significance, especially in this year of Covid where so many have died.
It is only fitting that we spend at least one day a year remembering those who died in that year for each life on earth is unique and special. I was taught that every snowflake is different and so are human beings. As I remember my friends, teammates, and acquaintances who died this year I marvel how much I remember about each one and how special they were in their own way. My teammate who chewed tobacco, my dear friend who decorated for Christmas like none other, the physician who was so loved he was called simply “doctor,” my close and dear friend I became so close to when we moved to Charlotte, and so many more.
Covid is an especially cruel virus because it has taken away our ability to grieve with others. No more memorials, Irish wakes, or homes full of casseroles and chess pies. So this years All Saints and All Souls days take on an even more special meaning. Take a few minutes or more to remember all those you lost this year and perhaps before. They are not gone as long as they live in our memory, and hang on to those memories not just for their sake but for yours.
Thankfully we have many grandchildren to climb and dream for us. Our grandparents saw the world change more than ever in history and hoped we would just survive all the challenges. we have survived and now must help guide our progeny through perilous times-compares very favorably to navigating trees in our youth. I fell many times but always caught myself and vowed ‘not to do that again’.
Lets find a strong branch to sit on high enough to see the future we may yet help create!