Looking through photo albums of my daughter's fourth and fifth birthdays, the other night, I was startled to see just how much she had grown it he past five years.

When she was younger, her birthday party was always a big event for us. We'd invited all our friends and family. Everyone who was game dressed up for this Halloween-time celebration. Her albums are full of an apple-cheeked, smiling, giggly girl who obliged her mom and dad by pausing from the fun and games for mere seconds to pose with aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, friends.

That energy and joy have not abated, but they have found their outlet in homework, music, Scouting, reading, writing, photography as she has grown. Her life is just beginning, really.

After I closed the albums, I checked my email and found a link to the CaringBridge blog of a little girl named Elise who has Tay-Sachs disease. Her mom, Lori, had posted the message that Elise's friend Gabby had passed away.

The picture story of Adella's life when she was Gabby's age lay in my lap when I read this brief post. Though I know of Elise through a mutual friend and know of Gabby only through Elise's blog, I was deeply saddened by the news. What a loss to a family.

"Passed on" is right, I thought. The much-loved spirit of this little child has moved on from her body and will find a home elsewhere. That little soul will take with it the love it knew through the care of her family and all who supported her. To state that she is dead would be to deny the important fact that her spirit is not.

I don't believe God afflicts any one of us with a disease to teach us or others lessons in caring. I believe diseases are a part of the reality of our indifferent universe and how we deal with them is a measure of the capacity of our souls.

How blessed I am with a simple life that stays simple in large part because my daughter is healthy. How grateful I am that my friends who have been the lifelong friends of the family who cares so fully for Elise introduced me to her story. Elise came into this world with a disease that will limit her life but not her capacity to love and be loved.

My God, how beautiful.

CaringBridge
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