Post Sixty-Nine

 LIVES WELL LIVED

Hospice has been called. The medications are being administered. Cecil is by her side. The outcome is not in doubt. Amy is dying.

Dwell not upon this unhappy circumstance. It reveals nothing of Amy's life, the enormity of her love for others, the power of her compassion to lift the hearts of troubled children and youth, her capacity for creative silliness, or her devotion to her beloved Cecil, and their joint example of fidelity to one another.

Amy is not defined by the circumstances of this moment. Her legacy resides in the hearts of those children who chose to share their deepest secrets with her and in return received the transforming benefit of her understanding and love. Her legacy resides in Flashight Bible Study, and Choir Camp Input curricula that invited young hearts to know God's love and thereby found their way out of troubled circumstances and into lives of hope. The joint legacy of Amy and Cecil resides in their faithful love for one another and in the way they projected authentic joy in the face of difficult life circumstances and trouble. Together they lived above defeat.

Last Saturday, September 9, 2017, I joined with others whose lives have been blessed by Amy and Cecil to present a surprise falshmob concert for Amy. Cecil was in on the ruse. We rehearsed and then we gathered at Amy and Cecil's home to honor Amy in the best way possible. We sang for her. We sang and we cried. We sang and we laughed. We sang some more.

How do you measure a life? A foolish person might say that wealth and possessions indicate God's favor. Some have built religious empires preaching that very message. I say a life is measured in the love returned by the recipiants of the love we give. Amy lives an enormous life. Together with Cecil they could rule the world.

Dave Gladstone