happpy endings

the last bit of time for my friend sarah has been hard. difficulty breathing, talking, etcetera. i hope she wouldn't mind if i tell you just a small portion of her day yesterday. after much time struggling, she seemed to get an incredible amount of strength. she started singing and praising God. she said, "i understand now. He is so good. we have to tell the world." after singing joyfully for a good while and talking with loved ones, she fell asleep. and stayed asleep.

today, my dear friend in arkansas passed on.

when i was first told, i kind of went numb. i had a final to prepare for and didn't know how to process the news. rather than try, i stayed on the internet leaving funny comments on myspace pages. then, all at once, it hit me. i cried and cried. i couldn't study. i could just pray and cry some more. i pulled myself together and made it to school, only to get there and start crying again. sigh... there are many beautiful people at the arizona school of massage therapy. they gave me tissue, shoulders, and encouraging words.

i finally found the strength to take my final. as we prepared for the hands-on testing, i realized that this would be the very last time any of us would lay on a massage table, undressing under a sheet in a classroom full of people, to be a "client" for fellow classmates. tomorrow will be our last class, and this weekend we will work our last clinical internship. at the graduation ceremony, we will say many goodbyes. a bitter-sweet ending.

my brother just wrote a blog about the end of his tour with invisible children. soon, i will be exhausted and ready to lay in bed. the end of a day. as i do, i will put in a great cd (something like silas maybe) and listen to many songs as they begin and end. this life is filled with beginnings and endings. i am envious of sarah. she has the most incredible new beginning. every day, every moment, every ending, i can choose a wonderful new beginning. "His mercies are new every morning." and i'm sure they are new at all the points in between as well.