Celebrating a life well lived…is still painful. Maybe for a lot of important reasons. How many of us actually… do accomplish…a life well lived? Laurie did. I met her during a storm in her life that somehow inextricably wove our lives together, and part of those moments I have struggled with ever since. I have a sense of regret. I have at times set-up my tent and lived at the site of that wound for a long while. But Laurie, she forgave me. You see, Laurie was like that. I know because my son loved her daughter. Aaron, my impetuous son and Rian, her headstrong daughter, fell in love, married and had two beautiful daughters. Samantha and Olivia were the most unique yet similar blend of their parents. Each beautiful and full of life! Laurie was a strong woman, independent and fierce. She was a single parent who put herself through school and provided for her daughters through times of hardship. She was a woman who was an overcomer. Tough and tender, full of laughter. Just the right blend and balance.
Over the years we grew to know each other better as we each adjusted to loving the other’s child. At times life was hard. She would bend but not break. She would hold her ground with a firm tenacity and then she would say or do something that released her smile mixed with laughter. It was good to know her. She met Dave and it soon became clear they had a love that flourished and meant they would share the rest of their lives together. Their home was a refuge of beauty and comfort. An oasis for many, family and friend alike, as we toiled through this life with all its challenges. Aaron fell ill as he struggled to find how God might use him. Ultimately, he answered the call to ministry. With Rian by his side they sought to serve together in a local church. They grew in faith and service together. Laurie was encouraging and supportive. Then just as Aaron prepared to accept his first Lead Pastor position at a small church he was hospitalized. Three days later he died.
Words cannot capture the deep shroud of emotion I felt at the loss of my son. There, in all the sorrow, the deep mourning, the noise and confusion was Laurie. She and Dave mourning with us opened their home to my family as we shared in the loss and tried to comfort each other as we made the grueling journey through our grief. I remember the day shortly after Aaron’s death when Laurie and Dave again had us out to their beautiful and serene beach to celebrate Aaron. We each released a balloon with a private message to honor Aaron and stood together as one family.
Laurie fell ill. The dreaded word, Cancer, was now the challenge. Laurie was a warrior. She was so active and positive as she operated in her artistic gifts of restoration. She had the marvelous ability to take those things long out of use and forgotten…and breathed new life and beauty into them. She and Dave were quite a team as they loved on Lindsey, Rian, Samantha and Olivia. Along the path of her own journey Laurie enriched others lives with her strength and devotion to Jesus Christ. She lived her faith with a joy that was infectious and a peace that was remarkable. Then, her moment came. She slipped the bonds of her earthly body and she was with Jesus in Heaven. She was free.
I stood in the long line of those who had come to celebrate Laurie at the Church. The quiet conversations between good friends, family and strangers. I patiently waited as we moved slowly toward Dave and the family to offer our condolences and what comfort we could. The music was full of praise and the video of pictures across her lifespan was touching. I don’t know why but when I saw the pictures with my son, Aaron, I was caught off guard. I hadn’t prepared and my eyes began to well up with tears. Laurie loved Aaron. I was grateful, not only that Aaron knew Laurie, but that I had known Laurie. Dave and I exchanged deeply emotional hugs with shared tears and words muttered to one another, awkwardly and sincerely. Our effort to express joy and victory over death. I held onto my granddaughters, and then Rian, Lindsey and Dave as we fought the gut-wrenching loss of a dear woman…who lived her life well. The deep and authentic sharing of friends and family members continued. Each speaking a narrative of testimony…evidence of a life well lived. A life lived in community, in the company of others that has now left an indelible image on each of us. I celebrate Laurie even as I continue my own journey. Challenging myself to live a life well lived.
Michael D. Griffith