We lost a family member, the stepdaughter of my sister-in-law. The deceased was a vivacious, fun-loving woman who was battling cancer when a stroke got her. She was just 52 and left a grieving husband, a son, and enough friends and family to form a long, long line last night at the funeral home.
It may seem strange to write about being grateful after attending a wake, but the room was loud and the conversations were punctuated by “Jill would have loved this.” In fact, she would have been out in the parking lot having a cocktail, most likely, being the life of the party. As I looked around the room, I thought how awesome that she had gathered so many people to her — a woman she met at the nail salon, her golfing buddies, all of them. I was grateful to see all those people celebrating this hell of a woman. I was grateful to have known her, even for a little while.
Dating Jesus 
I’m so sorry for your loss. Regards to you and your family.
Thank you. She was a heller. And she was a heller in no small part because she had a wonderful stepmother.
I’m sorry for your family’s loss. I imagine seeing so many people there who cared for her was a great comfort to all present.
I’ll leave this here: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/gratitude-discipline/ on gratitude as a practice, rather than as an extension of emotion. It makes sense. Thanks for doing this.
Beautiful. Thank you.
Jac, that was a nice piece. It’s easy to forget that happiness and contentment don’t just happen to you. You have to work at it and one of the payoffs is resilience and perspective when you need it most. Like when you lose someone.