Five Deaths And One Life

Good morning…

Many have lost loved ones this week all over the globe, but personally I have been touched by five deaths and one life.

“I shed a few tears on the way to work,” my husband said after school last Monday. “Eric Carmen died over the weekend, and they were playing his songs in tribute. I used to listen to his albums all the time growing up.” Born in Cleveland, Ohio near my hometown, Eric passed away at age 74.

Last Tuesday, we were finishing dinner out with oldest daughter when my husband’s phone rang. A close friend of ours reached out to say that his 53-year-old, longtime friend had died suddenly while on a business trip. Immediately we went to our friends’ home and listened as they processed their shock. Left to mourn at the funeral today with close-knit family and friends are his wife and two daughters, one a high school senior and the other a sophomore.

On Thursday at 2:00 pm, Northside Church hosted a service celebrating the life of William Bailey, who died at age 44. He will be deeply missed by his wife and twin six year olds. “William was best known for his strength, resilience, and integrity,” read the bulletin. “He poured love and inspiration into everyone he knew.” Then at 4:00 pm, my husband and I drove up the road to St. Anne’s Episcopal Church to honor the life of 76-year-old Bill Muir. Bill’s most powerful legacy left in my life is the life-giving Spirit of his daughter and my friend, Julie (Muir) Harlan who died of stomach cancer at age 41 in 2017.

Spur-of-the-moment on Friday, a friend and I took in a matinee showing of One Life, a moving 2023 film about Sir Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton, who courageously rescued 669 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938. In the credits, 6,000 descendants of these children were honored. Winton died at age 106.

74. 53. 44. 76. 41. 106. None of us knows how many years we will be given on this earth, but we each live into the question posed by poet Mary Oliver. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Wild. Precious. Life. Tell me, what is your plan?

And so I heartily recommended that you pursue joy, for the best a person can do under the sun is to enjoy life. Eat, drink, and be happy. If this is your attitude, joy will carry you through the toil every day that God gives you under the sun (Ecclesiastes 8:15, VOICE).

…Sue…

P.S. For those in the Atlanta area, please consider joining us tomorrow night, Wednesday, March 20th, 6:30 to 8:00 pm in the Northside Church chapel for It’s Never Too Early: Finding Peace In the Planning. Mary Beth (Dickey) Walker and the chaplain team from Canterbury Court along with seasoned hospice nurse Ginna McFarling will lead us through end-of-life topics to positively and proactively discuss with our loved ones.

1. Tackling tough conversations
2. Desired Living situation in Golden Years
3. Resources to Help you thrive
4. Communicating your desires for end-of-life
5. End of Life: Body
6. End of Life: Service
7. End of Life: What you leave behind (pets, social media, etc.)

8. Ethical will and leaving a legacy

9. Planning a meaningful death.

10. Writing your own obituary.