In the twinkling of an eye.

Lydia Caroline Boldt - 1925-2008

Once again events have shown us that we have no control over what happens next.

Friday, May 16, 2008 started as any normal day. Harv was in Denmark and had emailed me to call him at his hotel at noon our time so I was looking forward to that. I'd walked with my neighbour in the morning and busied myself with office work after that. It took about an hour to get through to Harv's hotel but we were finally connected and had talked for about 10 minutes when I heard the beep that there was a call waiting. I ignored it, thinking I'd figure out later who'd called. A few minutes later the business phone rang and I ignored that as well - thinking it was my mom or one of our friends. It wasn't more than a few minutes later that we ended our conversation and immediately the phone rang again. It was my brother-in-law, Ernie, who told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to get over to be with my Dad immediately. "You have to come RIGHT NOW" he said. When I asked him why the urgency - my plans for the rest of the day changed instantly. "Your mom has collapsed, in fact she's died", he said.

He couldn't be serious - MY mom? Why she'd called yesterday - so excited about their plans for the day - it was their 60th anniversary and Dad had insisted she come with him for coffee with his friends. Later she was going to present Dad with a new wedding band - for the next 10 years - and they were to have dinner with my sister and her husband. She was happy and full of life.

They had a great evening and then in the morning she went walking as usual with her friends, went for coffee with more friends and then came home to tell Dad she was going up to the roof-top deck for some sun - she'd be down and make him lunch in 20 minutes. When she didn't come down, he went to look for her. He found her lying on her mat, head on her arms, but was unable to wake her. She'd fallen asleep, her book, glasses and visor neatly placed beside her and in that instant, she passed into the presence of her Saviour.

How can this be? Our mom's are supposed to live forever aren't they? Especially my mom. She was a week away from her 83rd birthday but she looked 1o years younger and still had more energy and drive than I've ever had. She wasn't sick, she wasn't old - she was a bright light, an energizer, an organizer, knowledgeable, curious, excited about life, always making plans for something new.

Everyone of her family and friends are in shock and we - Dad, Janet and I and our families are still reeling. How can a bright light like she was be so suddenly extinguished and cold? There are no words to describe our loss. For her though, it was a gift - she always wanted to be the first to go, saying that she would not be able to live alone, without Dad. God answered her prayers and gave her an instantaneous passage into glory.

As my sister said at the funeral " Going up for sunshine - what a lovely way to go, mom. What a beautiful picture of the hope of the resurrection that infused your being. We are all left speechless and lost. but you, mom, you shine!"

Now life must go on. We will take that cruise she was looking forward to so much. We will set an empty chair among us and include her in our celebration of their 60th anniversary as we'd planned.

She will continue to inspire and energize us to live life to the fullest. We are grateful beyond words for her imprint on each of us, for her example of faithfulness to God, and to Dad, and for the unconditional love and support she showed us as her daughters and our families.

She has gone on ahead to a place we've not been and we look forward with anticipation to joining her for a grand reunion in Heaven.