(My beloved niece Seana passed from this life to the next on May 19, 2012. Ovarian Cancer took her life. She was only 31 years old. Over the next while I will share the thoughts that I recorded during the time before and after Seana’s death. I invite you to join me as I share what was on my heart, and also pay tribute to my niece, and to her family.)

Written June 1, 2012

The rain, it floods from the sky today. The wind blows fiercely and the trees tremble. The beautiful lilac tree that dances outside the bay window is bent over, the blooms look crushed, no longer fluffy, filled out, fresh. The branches they bend in melancholy.

But the earth is dry, thirsty; it soaks up the rain desperate to be quenched. The rain it is steady, unceasing, sometimes the wind changes direction and the rain angles down sharp streaks.

So it is with me, the grief it pours out, steady. I too, bend melancholy. Like the earth I long for the dryness in my soul to be watered with comfort.

Grief it has an ebb and flow. Relief comes when I think of Seana – joyous, free of the torture of pain-filled days and nights. Sorrow comes in the missing – her presence no longer present, here and now.

“Breathe on me
Rain on me
I’ve been in the
desert so long;
Dry and thirsty,
I search for you.
So many mirages,
nothing satisfies.
I wait for you,
my Lord;
Water my soul,
quench my thirst
and shelter me.

Breathe on me,
Holy Spirit,
Rain on me.
Hide me in the shadow
of your wings.
Holy Comforter
You are my Counselor,
You guide me
in all my ways.
Breathe on me,
Rain on me,
Oh Spirit of God.
Breathe on me,
Rain on me
Oh Spirit of God.”

-Sharon & Robin