Celebrating Life

I attended a funeral today, but it wasn’t what I expected. Katie was a former coworker of mine and even though she left the Foundation in 2009 to work for the OSU President’s Office, I was still in contact with her frequently. In fact, I got to see her a week ago on Tuesday, and we had a good conversation. I got to congratulate her on her pregnancy and she told me about the interesting morning she’d had without electricity.

Katie was such a kind person. When I first started at the Foundation she made me feel welcome and always greeted me with a smile. We never had much of a relationship outside of work, but I always enjoyed spending time with Katie.

She died this past Sunday at only 29. My heart breaks for her husband, who is also a coworker of mine, and her family and friends. I cannot imagine their grief. As we gathered together for the funeral today, I was prepared for a tearful afternoon. While there were plenty of tears, there was also a feeling of gratitude for the time we got to spend with her and the blessing she was to all of us. At the funeral, the pastor spoke of how Katie loved God and treated every day as a gift. Her life, although shorter than some, was filled with meaning and purpose. The Lord had great plans for Katie, and I was blessed to have known her.

Today was a good reminder to celebrate life and show God’s love to others. You never know what He has planned for you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chi-town Shenanigans

Image
The Tuesday before last, I left for a trip to Chicago. The annual ADRP conference was there this year and while I've been in the past, this year was different because our ENTIRE team went. There were seven of us in all, and we had so much fun together! Chicago is a place I've never really been dying to visit. I haven't been opposed, it just wasn't on the top of my list. However, after going there, I definitely want to go back. It's a very clean city and there is so much to do and so many wonderful things to see. Kyle and I will have to plan a trip there some day. If I learned one thing this trip it was that I work with the most awesome people! On the airport parking shuttle on our way home we met a lady. She said she opted to take the full shuttle because she and four of her coworkers had been together for four days and needed a little time apart. We all smiled and nodded as if we understood completely, but in that moment I couldn't. We spent our spare ti
Read more

Love Text

Image
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but I LOVE the first Sex and the City Movie. The second, not so much, but I’m pretty sure everyone in America agrees with me on that one. I watched it while I was sick last week. In the movie, there’s an exchange between Carrie and Big that goes a little something like this: C: “Have you ever written me a love letter?” B: “Does a love fax count?” C: “When have I EVER gotten a love fax?” B: “Oh, I'm sure my secretary sent you one...at some point. What can I tell you, baby? It's just not my style. Besides, those guys had to write. They were separated from their loves by wars and hundreds and hundreds of miles. I'm right here. Hello. You make me very happy.” C: “Yeah, yeah. Put it in writing.” Comic genius. Anyway, that got me thinking that Kyle and I rarely ever stop to focus on what we love about each other. Unfortunately we spend far too much time pointing out things we wish the other would do differently.
Read more

Spring Break

Image
Contrary to popular belief, the OSU Foundation is not closed during spring break. In fact, we are open on most of the university-specific holidays. However, I was fortunate to be able to take 1 1/2 days off to spend a little time with the family during their break. My parents, Zach, Stacy and Asher had planned to visit my Donahue grandparents in Kansas, so I decided to tag along. Poor Kyle had to work, but he also got to spend the weekend with Greg and Stacie. They took him to a Thunder game and then out for golf on Saturday. They also found some basketball video game Greg and Kyle used to play as kids so that entertained them for most of Saturday evening. Stacie sent me this photo. They won with a dunk during the final seconds of the game. I think they're excited! :) Back on the farm, we got to spend a little time with Landon, who is now 6 months old. It's hard to believe how big his is! He is even sitting up on his own. Asher did pretty good with him although he did unintenti
Read more