A window of remembrance

By Jeff Becraft

Last week was the one-year anniversary of our Dad passing away. Mom passed away in 2022. My brother, Ed, sent out a message to all of us saying, “GREAT parents and grandparents, GREAT role models, and EXTRAORDINARY people.  We MISS them.  We LOVE them and hold their memories dear in our hearts.  They are together for eternity.”

He also sent out a picture with Mom and Dad sitting next to one another in a restaurant during one of our family reunions, and they both had really big smiles on their faces.

Today, I was running errands around lunchtime. I decided to go by a fast-food joint and I ordered through the drive-thru window. I then parked my car in the parking lot and sat there with the windows down and ate lunch.

And this was a reminder of what I would often do when I would go up to Maryland, particularly in Dad’s final years. If I was going to see him, whether in the home he was having to live in, or times when he was in the hospital, I would run by and grab lunch or dinner from some fast food joint and sit in my car with the windows down and eat it.

It was a window of refreshment. (And I have written before about how valuable these can be.)

And so in some small way, this was just kind of a memorial of Dad today… getting lunch…  sitting in the car… windows down… and being thankful.

Thankful of times with Dad and Mom, times with other members of the family when we would go visit them, thankful for those opportunities.

It also reminded me of all the times of those trips of being tired or maybe feeling overwhelmed. Dad’s hospital stays could be extremely stressful. Dad was in the hospital twice with covid, and the first time was really grueling because you had to totally garb up: mask, gown, face shield… everything. And once you went in the room, you couldn’t go out of the room. The hospital wouldn’t let you do that, and so there was no chance of going out and sitting in your car and eating a meal from a drive-thru… with the windows down.

So I am just thankful for the times with Mom and Dad over the years, and all the family, and thankful for God’s grace during all the times of feeling tired and feeling overwhelmed in those final years and days… that there were the windows of refreshment.

And even more, thankful for memories of loved ones and lives well lived.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope located in Columbia, South Carolina, where people find encouragement to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. Jeff has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. If you would like Jeff to speak to your group or event, you can connect with him at  [email protected].