“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." -Christopher Robin to Pooh
Many have told me that their own personal lives have changed as a result of Shawn’s death and my response to his death. The experience of this tragedy brings new meaning to relationships, priorities in life and our purpose on this earth. In one of the best books I have found dealing with the intricacies of loss, Jerry Sittser, in his book titled “A Grace Disguised”, explains that some lives “are changed because they chose to get involved and to allow my suffering to become theirs. They refused to give me only a month or a year to return to life as it was for me before the loss. Since they knew life would not be the same for me, they decided that it would not be the same for them either.”
There are a handful of people who walk this journey with me at the intensity Sittser is describing. And I know that these are the people I must daily thank God for bringing into my life. On my most troublesome of days, I thank God for the few who have decided to be bold, be uncomfortable, be interested, be concerned, be changed.
