A Jon Post
It really was always just a matter of time.
Lucia and her father went home almost two months ago when the hospital here decided there was nothing further to be done for her. She wanted to go home and be with her family.
She died on Friday.
Lucia and her smile
It was always just a matter of time.
Lucia smiled a lot. Maybe she learned it from her father who did the same. When she had toxin dripping into her veins to fight the cancer in her body she seemed to teeter on the verge of eternity but always, after her treatment ended she would bounce back and smile again.
It was always just a matter of time.
While we don’t and can’t forget her, we honestly didn’t know her THAT well. We knew her in her time at the hospital but her life with her family, with her friends, in school, the games she played… we didn’t know.
So we’ve started a project, if only a personal one.
This week I spent many hours sitting with little Tomé whom I’ve written about before. With his eager help, I’ve started writing down the story of his life, as much as I can. Where he grew up, how his mother makes food in the home, how far he and his family have to walk to get water to cook and clean, his favorite class in school (it’s math by the way) what his house is shaped like, what kind of food grows in his father’s farm, and much much more.
We want to know people’s lives beyond the short part of it we see when they come here (too often to die). We want to know and hear the life part of it.
So starting this last week I’ve started taking a notebook with me and taking small notes. We want to remember the voices that we hear, even long after they’ve gone on to wait for us to join them with Christ.
There are many voices of the world.
We’re just writing down a few of them.
But please don’t forget Lucia’s.
Goodbye sweet friend