She’s finally home.

I happen to be here.

I always come for raspberry season but this year one thing after another made it so we had to keep pushing our trip back so someone else could be at mom and dad’s.

Then the day before I was to arrive mom got called to go care for her mother.

I wanted her to go, but the week she would return Cade’s family would be arriving at our house, once again, what to do?

Quiet Urgency to Go Home

Over and over I had this quiet urgency to go home. So I packed up the kids and left Cade to prepare for guests and came.

The first morning I woke up to the news that her brother, the one who I remember wrapping her up in this tender but playful bear hug every time we went to Idaho to visit had passed away.

He loved her.

Her father had been taken to heaven far too early and I could see that he had softly stepped into the role of loving her.

And now, in the blink of an eye he was gone.

Yes, “it” did snatch another victim, though he had health concerns too.

But I got to be here.

The Hug

The moment she walked into the house it was my arms she fell into, and the hug you know only if you’ve experienced loss.

I had told Cade over and over, “it’s bad timing, and mom won’t even be there, but I feel to go.”

And mom has said, “it’s bad timing but I feel to go care for my mom.”

What are the chances?

He’s Happy Now

She got to be there for her siblings, be there to break the news to her mom which nearly broke all of them. Especially as they had to continue to break it to grandma who would forget throughout the day and ask how he was until the decision was made to only tell her, “he’s happy now mom” instead of crushing her soul over and over.

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense, but we listen, and we go.

Be There

For someone who couldn’t be there because of a high risk pregnancy to bury her own father, I know it mattered that she was there this time. The first sibling lost in her family.

And for someone who has continually prayed to be whatever hands the Lord needs me to be, I’m so grateful I could be the one to hold her as He would have.