Not to put a damper on the holiday celebrations, but people I know are passing away. Tonight I received a late phone call that one of the "over 80" sisters in our ward passed away, Hope Latham. Hope and her husband Ron had gone to Jim's Restaurant to celebrate his birthday (he is also over 80). She collapsed at the restaurant and could not be revived there or at the hospital.Hope has been confined to her home pretty much the past 2-3 years. She hasn't been able to get to church or drive her car or go shopping. I was her visiting teacher for a year or so and she told me many times about how she worked with Ardith in the Primary and she bowled on Tuesday nights at Delton Lanes probably in the same league as my mom. She lost her first husband 50 some years ago and has been married to Ron for most of those 50 some years. She lived a vibrant and active life. In fact, Willie and Karl visited with her just yesterday afternoon and she was looking forward to going out to dinner tonight.
Two weeks ago, we lost a young sophomore student at Hunter High -- she collapsed after school, was taken to the hospital and later passed on -- internal bleeding.
A friend of mine lost her aunt last week. Another friend lost her mother. A young mother in a neighboring ward died leaving two young daughters behind. Ross' great uncle passed away last week.
On Saturday, my dad and I were talking about how you [all of us] have only a certain amount of time on earth as mortals. When your time is up you pass on to an undetermined amount of time in the next life. It is so important to make the most of the time you have while you can in this mortal existence. You only get one opportunity to be here. Time here does not allow for repeating events and experiences or making up for lost opportunities. So, try to do what's right, be kind and nice to others, count your blessings and offer thanks, take care of those around you, love as many people as you can, study and learn everything you can about this life and all that it involves, and believe in God and His Son and live their commandments.
3 comments:
Good Post Mom!
This reminded me of some of the things i said in my RS lesson on SUnday -the importance of living your life on purpose and being where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there.....that we don't get second chances.
I quoted from my favorite Henry David Thoreau poem - which also relates.
"......to live life deliberately and not when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived."
Thank you.
Thanks for this blog post. My Mom will want to know about Hope. I will tell her. This is a very true post. Thank you so much for the reminder. Especially at this time of year. I love your quote and annie's above.
Good job, mom. Sorry people are dying.
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