Before and after

This evening Ted and I watched a beautiful movie with that exact tittle, starring Merryl Streep, an excellent movie

I won't go into what that movie was all about, but I found the statement "Before and After" very fitting because of the news we received today from my sister Bertie. Her seventeen old grandson Stephan was instantly killed by a pickup truck right after school while crossing the street. The truck was going full speed. Els was waiting at home with the tea as is their custom. Instead she got a call from the police.

I was able to talk to the oldest son for a while ( his parents were taken by a police car to the Hospital). I asked him how he was doing under the circumstances, all he could say was, "Tante Truus, I am in shock, we all are." Later in the day I talked to my niece Els and she just could not comprehend that Stephan is gone. She was making coffee and realized that she did not have to pour a cup for him (he just loved her coffee!). The police gave her a bag of his clothes all cut up in pieces by the paramedics, she had not been able to look at them. Neither had she been in his room yet.

Their nine year old Kimberly cried out very expressively (the only one who showed emotion!): "But Mommy now I only have two brothers left and it will take a hundred years before I see him again, that takes too long!" When she went to bed she took a picture of Stephen with her, on which she wrote, "I love you and I miss you!" Isn't that precious?

Els was telling me that tomorrow they have to start with arrangements for the funeral. Nobody is an expert in those things, especially when it happens so suddenly. I also did not sense any frustration as I talked with Els and was able to say to her that God is NOT finished yet, without sounding too preachy. The fact that I had an opportunity to talk with her oldest son who has some issues with parental discipline, meant a lot to her.

It is in times like these I wished I were there just to be of comfort to my sister as well. She was so proud of him. He was such a good teenager, an "A" student and always trying to make money in an after school job so that he could buy him self nice clothes and treat his parents. He was also very good looking. I do not have a recent picture of him but I have requested one.

Our lives can change in an instant. We have to be prepared that there is such a thing as "after".

So where will you find comfort?