In honor of Janet

I have been honored to know some really good people in my life and Janet is one lady I’m thinking is having a good time with God right now! Janet’s family home was in the house next door to our house in Miami at Westwood Lake long before I moved in. She married and moved not far from her family home, but she returned often to swim with her children in the lake behind our houses. Janet was pregnant with one of her children at the same time her mother and her sister were pregnant. The 3 pregnant ladies played in the lake where Janet’s brother and I later played and had long talks as adults. It’s a kooky story, but my friend Mike is one of those “late pregnancies” that surprised everybody! When Chuck and I moved into the house next door, Janet had already lost her husband, Whitey, and she had moved away. Whenever I saw Janet we had such wonderful, funny, happy conversations about “the past.” Life was good, and we had nothing to complain about. I never heard a negative word from Janet. God blessed her with a sunny, beautiful personality. Janet passed away recently at age 84 after a battle with Alzheimers that saddened all of us. To watch the light slowly go out on a happy life is a slow, lingering grief. God blessed Janet with a quiet death this week.

Janet’s short life makes me wonder: What is a life well lived? It is a life spent thinking things before us are good things. Flowers are meant to be treasured and sniffed, not trampled. Clouds are meant to be clapped over, because clapping keeps the rain away. Puppies are to be cuddled, and children are to be read to. Mean-spirited people are to be shivered at and given to God. People are to seen as God’s children. All of the people, even the ones we disagree with so strongly, are God’s creations. Thank you Janet for teaching me to clap!