Lesson learned for the summer: Things change in the blink of an eye.
I guess everyone who has been following my blog noticed that I quit writing for awhile. I just didn't have any words to describe how I was feeling. I still haven't fully wrapped my mind around the events that have taken place. I guess I should start where I left off.
I got off work late Thursday night and had taken Friday off to go home for the weekend. I was looking forward to spending time with my boyfriend and his family. Those lazy weekends in between working were the only thing rejuvenating me enough to go back to Memphis and get back to work. So Monday morning I woke up to a text from my father that simply said, "Gena passed away at 3:30 this morning." I won't repeat what my first reaction was, but I melted down. Gena was my dad's fiance. She had been struggling with colon cancer that had spread for some time now. After being in remission for a few months it came back and it came back hard. She made the decision to not do any more chemo so we all knew that we would eventually have to say goodbye. In that moment, I knew that I was going to have to make some decisions and make them fast. I called Sister Barbara and told her what had happened and then headed to my hometown to be with my father. Tuesday we sat in Gena's home with her children, parents, niece, brother, and sister. Gena's story not only inspired our small hometown, but it expanded into the depths of Facebook and touched the lives of people none of us even knew. Love in the form of food, flowers, and hugs flowed steadily into the house for the next couple days. The funeral was Wednesday and I can't think of a better way to describe it than what my boyfriend turned to me and said afterwards. "That was awesome." And it really was. Gena's life was celebrated in a way that I never thought possible. She had left messages to her family via slide shows. She had chosen the perfect outfit (orange: her children's school color). She had asked for donations to be made to her church building project in lieu of flowers and the spray on the top of her casket held flowers from her own garden. Friends, coworkers, family, and strangers alike walked into the sanctuary and said their goodbyes. I was most moved when my father's coworkers came into the reception line and after hugging him, they hugged me and whispered into my ear, "Take care of your dad." It was nothing less than awesome. By Thursday morning we were headed to Memphis to move my things out. I would like to say that it wasn't an easy decision or that I felt torn, but I didn't. I knew that I needed to be closer to home for my family. Even if my dad never called on me, at least I would know that I could be there in a mere two hours should he ever need someone to lean on. My only concern was that my dad would in some way feel guilty for the decision I had made to quit the internship and move back to Alabama. I'm confident that I made the right decision. I know that Gena was proud of me for moving to Memphis in the first place and I know that she would have been proud of the choice I made to be with my dad.
So I end my blog here with an unexpected turn of events. I end it not with the closing of the summer and not with stories of the boys I have left behind, but with a heavy heart and many life lessons learned. I guess in a way there isn't a more perfect ending. Gena's devotion to her family is what Youth Villages is all about. A force for families and I can't think of a more perfect force for my family.
