The Cole homestead has changed

I drove by my parent’s old house coming home from a funeral.  The funeral was for a family who lost their 38-year-old momma unexpectedly due to complications from surgery.  Their lives will never be the same.  As I drove past the home I grew up in and was in our family for over 44 years I realized that my life is not the same as it was either. 

The one constant is change.

Change can be so uncomfortable and sad and disconcerting and hard and feel terrible.

This homestead doesn’t even look like it did when Lyle and Sheri Cole lived here.

The front yard was a forest of trees back then, with a big front deck hooked onto the front porch that pushed into the trees.  It was like living in a treehouse and my momma loved it. My parents put up the deck in celebration of their 25th anniversary instead of going to Hawaii.  We spent many a summer Sunday evening talking out on the deck while sprinklers misted in the trees.  We saw many sunsets, had Italian food which my mom called a Cole-erelli dinner, and celebrated from Easter to my Dad’s September birthday out on the deck.  It was fondly named, “Deck Heaven.” 

Now the deck and the trees no longer exist...and my parents are in heaven.

It looks so different.

The one constant is change.

Change can be so gratifying and good and full of growth and possibility and feel like a fresh start.

People die.

Life goes on.

We mourn and we celebrate.

Life is 50/50.

I preach this.  I teach this.  We ALL live this whether we recognize it or not.