Another
week has gone by and it is time to thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for
inviting an ever-expanding group of Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite
articles on It’s "Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.
Do
yourself a favor: Go there now (and every Wednesday) and let these authors bless and challenge
you in your Faith journey.
Be
sure to visit Allison at Reconciled
To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A
Verb during the rest of the week.
Here is my contribution this week:
Musings of An Aging Sibling
(Originally posted May 6, 2011)
(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
I have wondered
occasionally what you must have thought when you first saw two little
bodies squirming around in their cribs, squawking and demanding so much
attention from others. Joseph, you were certainly old enough to understand who these two little runts were and why they required so much attention. But John, you were still in diapers and barely able to walk. You
must have had some difficulty sizing up your new brother and sister and
accepting your sudden relegation from king of the roost to third in
line.
Jane
and I certainly had no idea who you were or what kind of future we
would all have together. I am sure my primary and sole focus at the time
was to get fed and to be the center of attention. From family stories that I have heard, Jane had the same idea and the upper hand.
Knowing
Mom and Dad, I doubt you guys ever felt neglected after our arrival. I
suspect you both knew we were just two more creatures God sent for
everyone to love. Thank God our parents were open to new life! You
were probably just as eager as everyone else that we grow up and be
able to do fun things together. Our little sister Pat had more than
enough love to “mother” us all. No doubt our brother Pete was prepared
to lend a helping hand.
As
one day rapidly turned into another, I am certain that Jane and I never
tired of looking at you guys while we tried to figure out why you were
on the other side of the crib and we were confined. On
those occasions when we were momentarily set free, what havoc we
probably wrought to your toys and special things. I am sure you couldn’t
wait until we were old enough where you could retaliate. I suspect John
didn’t wait.
But just as suddenly as we appeared in your lives, you disappeared from ours. Neither Jane nor I had any idea where you guys had gone or why joyful eyes were suddenly so red, swollen and sad. How quickly all our lives were changed. You never got to meet your little sister Flo.
God wanted the both of you with Him! Things like that happened back then before the arrival of penicillin or the polio vaccine. How
quickly pneumonia snatched the life out of John and polio briefly
imprisoned Joseph in an iron lung before he joined his brother and their
heavenly Creator. Every now and then I think of you guys and wonder
what might have been. I need to do that more often. Thanks for letting us into your brief lives and for looking down all these years from above.
Without presuming upon God’s mercy, I pray that one day our entire family will be united eternally in His Presence. Would you put a good word in for us? Give Mom and Dad our love.
In the meanwhile, let’s keep in touch.
Oh my, how poignant. I was a "Polio Pioneer," one of the first batch of children to receive a nationwide test of the vaccine (injection), and I remember my parents being relieved that such a thing had been developed. This post makes me realize anew the fragility of life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting Nancy. Sad, is it not, that so many have forgotten how devastating polio was and do not get immunized.
ReplyDelete