Message To My Sister

Tonight we went to our favorite local theatre and watched "The Sound of Music."  

First time in several years...
Considering my youngest daughters had the script and songs memorized by the time they were four years old, this fact catches me by surprise.

To be honest, this bit of information isn't of any monumental value...
What does makes it significant is that it's Memorial Day and we just learned that our brother-in-law, Steve, surrendered in his battle to cancer. 

Both my Southern Gentleman and I were crushed...especially for Lynn, Steve's bride and my Southern Gentleman's sister.  

To lose the man of your dreams, the one who gave your life back to you, who filled your days and nights with adventure and excitement, who brought a fullness to your family...who was your very heart and soul.  

For just a moment, I tried to imagine life without my Southern Gentleman...and as my heart relented to the possibility, I felt–for just a split second–a twinge into the depth of undoing that undoubtedly was buffeting my dear sister-in-law's mind, body, and soul.

So here we were, watching a movie about hope, dreams longed for, dreams fulfilled, dreams lost, and new beginnings.

I couldn't get my mind off Lynn, even in the midst of this musical memoir.  Interrupting my thoughts, these lyrics began floating from the screen down into the audience and into my heart...

"Climb every mountain,
Search high and low,
Follow every highway,
Every path you know.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.

A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live...."

All I could think about was that her dreams were designed with Steve right there by her side–being her knight in shining armor while flashing that contagious smile which always reassured her and made her laugh–and the realization that those dreams built a lifetime of memories. He was indeed her dream fulfilled.

"A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life,
For as long as you live."

I couldn't get those words out of my head, and I knew there must be something more there than just words.

...One day.
There will come a day.  

She will be able to dream again, and she will be able to dare to create a new dream.  

One that will require all the love she has burning inside to share.  

One that will consume her days with the same passion she once felt~~
And it will make her smile again.
And it will give her reason to live fully again. 

And you know what?  Steve will be the one pushing her on, leading her into a new calling~~a merging of the past into the present to create a new future~~one in which she will thrive once again.

Until that day, my heart will break for her as she searches for how life without Steve is supposed to unfold...as she struggles to create something new while clinging to the old, and she mourns what was with the reality of what is, daring to dream of what could be.

My prayer is that we will be able to walk alongside her as she navigates the ocean of changes and that we will be able to lavish so much love on her that she will remember what it means to have her a cup overflow...