Ode To My Friend
I just heard you were gone. The news took my breath away and I am struggling to fully grasp the meaning of this cruel reality.
A world without Bobbi? How can that be?
You were many things: a wife (a pastor’s wife for many years), mother, grandmother, great grandmother, school teacher, musician, confidante, friend. Those are “vocations” the world sees through tangible human eyes but you were so very much more.
Above all else you were a devout Christ Follower— kind, compassionate, faithful, loving, loyal, humorous, gracious, generous. These very things made you the very best kind of person. The very best kind of person to call friend.
I think of your quick smile and glowing countenance that could light up even the darkest of places. I can hear your laughter. I can hear your laughter.
I wonder why it is that God called you Home now when there were still so many years to be had — when you were still so very much needed here. Perhaps it was because He could no longer bear to be separated from His Bobbi. Our Bobbi. I can’t pretend to know why.
And even if He’d given you 20 more years here it would have never been long enough. Those who love you most would have never chosen to let you leave. They would have kept you here forever.
In a world where we foolishly believe we always have tomorrow, the loss of a friend or a loved one bears harsh witness otherwise. As is many times the case, time and distance and other not good enough excuses keep us from spending time with those we enjoy most, those we love. And I wish (too late) I’d taken the time to have more Bobbi time. Thankfully, Bobbi, I know you forgive me for that. Now I just need to forgive myself.
But I know that without a doubt someday God will grant me an eternity of Bobbi time when He calls me Home. And for now that must be enough. It must be enough.
Jackie Deems copyright 2019
