My next-door neighbor passed away this past week. I went to her wake last night.

She was a beautiful woman…thick, red hair and pretty skin. Her eyes smiled and she was warm. You know how you can be around someone and not know them well, but feel right at home with them? That’s how she and her husband are…you leave them and just feel warm inside…you leave better than when you came.

Her husband made me feel that way in the short time I had with him last night…such sweet people, both of them. He talked about her and what a dynamic woman she was. She had just turned 60 or 61 and about three years ago, she decided she wanted to take ballet lessons again. She’d studied in New York when she was younger and was quite good. The pictures of her as a young girl in the funeral home were amazing with her ballet costumes. She picked it right back up.

One year, she came home one day and said she’d like to learn to play the flute. So her husband bought her a flute and she excelled at that. She played in an ensemble. Then she came home saying she’d like to play the piano…so he bought her a piano…and she loved that too.

A zest for life. A love for living. A joy in learning.

When we first moved to this neighborhood, we had another neighbor come over right away. She had a fruit basket and seemed nice, albeit very awkward. She managed to insinuate that there was some sort of negative history with our next-door neighbors…they stopped coming to the Progressive Dinner. They kept to themselves. They had strong opinions.

Turns out she had a little motive in all that, but that’s another story.

When we met these particular neighbors, we quickly realized we adored them. We haven’t seen them much over the years. They keep to themselves and so do we. But every Halloween, we’d go by there to show them the kids and if we didn’t, they’d call and say, “Come over! We have something for you!”

One year, they brought the presents over on a huge tractor…in the snow…she was cuddled up there by him and they rode up our steep driveway. It was a sight I’ll never forget…a picture moment.

I didn’t know this, but she was well known in our community. She was involved in TV somehow and had awards all over the place. The funeral home was filled to overflowing with flowers from various businesses and TV stations. But when she got home, she was quiet. She loved her dogs and she loved music. She loved her husband and her son. It’s evident, from the room full of people and flowers, that she loved people and they loved her.

I love that she lived completely right until the very end. She knew cancer was taking her and she still LIVED…all the way.

God be with you, Anne. I’m so glad I met you.

Then yesterday, on Facebook, I saw that Lee Young, a guy I went to Bible School with, had passed away. I had just heard about him being sick, but it is such a shock to me that he is gone. What a young, sweet guy, with such a pure heart and doing such great things…he was a missionary…

My dear friend, Cylinda, was writing about Lee yesterday. It was a great post. Cylinda’s husband, John, said that Lee was having the best day of his life~ he just got promoted! I love that. It’s so true.

So, let’s live this life, why don’t we. Let’s live it the best possible way we can. We just never know when it will be our time to go. We each have it within ourselves to make a difference…one smile, one kind word, one loving touch at a time.