Remembering is reliving.
If I sit ever so still and quiet my mind, I’m back in my kitchen… chopping vegetables. It’s 8:45 AM on February 21, 2015. It’s Saturday. A chair is pulled up to the counter so my two-year-old daughter can help prepare her daddy’s birthday dinner. My son – only six months old – is napping. My husband is golfing. My phone rings. “Well hi!” It’s my dad.
What followed was a perfectly normal conversation on a perfectly normal day. Fifteen minutes of chitchat with my Papa Bear. In every sense of the phrase – all was well. Never [ever, ever, ever] could I have foreshadowed the finality of telling him “I love you. Bye.” I naturally assumed there would be a next time.
The sweet details of that phone call are mine. I am keeping them for myself.
All but two sentences.
Nine words.
They are far too gigantic to tuck away.
An exchange between a granddaughter and her grandpa. “Papa Tom, how’s your heart feeling?” His response, “It feels good!” An unprovoked, compassionate question from the tender soul of a little girl. An optimistic, sunny answer from a man just heartbeats away from the glory of Heaven.
I have since replayed this dialogue countless times and reflected on its significance. The hindsight is wildly wild. It’s profound and eerie; comforting and divine. Really, it’s a lesson in Love 101.
“How’s your heart feeling?”
What if our childlike curiosity – fueled by uninhibited affection – drove all of us to inquire about the state of another’s heart? Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually.
“How’s your heart feeling?”
What if we carved time out of our daily grind to pose this simple question… and stuck around for the honest answer… and lingered for a lifetime to solidify the depth of our care?
“How’s your heart feeling?”
What if we asked this… without knowing what tomorrow [or later that day] might bring?
“How’s your heart feeling?”
My daughter’s verbiage was spot on, as was her sincere, inquisitive love. I hope a larger percentage of this world learns to emulate such empathy. Even more, I hope the hearts of those we adore can indeed assure us they “feel good” at end of a phone call… or the end of a day… or the end of a life.
LOVE BIG. “Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.”