Significant Pursuit by Renaissance Guy

     I remember one time when I was visiting my family during a college holiday.  My little sister was still a chlid at home.  When it came time for me to return to school,  my sister and I shed a few tears as we said goodbye.  As I took my seat on the airplane, I happened to reach in my pocket and pull out a note that my sister had written to me.  It said, “I will miss you.”

     It has been a week since my sister passed away.  The day that it happened her husband gave me a letter that she wrote to me before she died.  It was happy torture to read it.  I relished every word she wrote, but I cried like a big baby.  I cried because I felt my own loss intensely.  I also cried because I realized that I  could not answer the letter.  She surprised me again.

     The funeral is over, and now life is heading back to normal.  Except that it’s not normal.  I cannot imagine a world without her in it.  I wish I could call her on the telephone and talk to her.  I want to thank her for the letter and reply to what she told me in it. 

     My sister is in heaven.  Perhaps she knows how her friends and family feel without her today.  Perhaps she knows the things I would say if I could reply to her letter.  I look forward to seeing her again after my own departure from this world.  Until then I will cherish her letters and my memories of her.  I will honor her by trying to be as kind and joyful as she always was.