Grief....Is A Gift

November 28, 2023

Earlier this month, on the anniversary of Chuck and Cyndi's Homecoming, Wayne and I visited the DFW Military Cemetery...to hit the "Pause" button on life for awhile and look back...reflect and remember and rejoice on where we've been.

Having both lost our spouses, we have made it successfully through the Grief chapter of our lives.

As we walked through the rows and rows of headstones in this beautiful peaceful place, we ran across this man.....sitting quietly with his loved one. It was a reminder to both of us of where we have been....and where we will most likely be again one day.

We will all have to walk the Grief Road at some point in our journey, but may you find PEACE and COMFORT in the words of my favorite author, Ann Voskamp:

"There is no fear in letting tears come. Sadness is a GIFT to avoid the nothingness of numbness, and all hard places need water. GRIEF is a GIFT, and after a rain of tears, there is always more of you than before. What seems to be undoing you, can ultimately remake you." (Ann VosKamp, "The Broken Way")

"Blessed", Was Always Her Answer

November 22, 2023

Yesterday, as I was setting the dining table for our first Thanksgiving dinner in "our" home.....Wayne and I chose to set it with his late wife Cyndi's wedding china....and my Aunt Ellie's silver. They looked perfectly at home next to each other.

Both Cyndi and Aunt Ellie may no longer be with us, but they were very present at our Thanksgiving table we shared last night with my son and daughter-in-law and our two beautiful granddaughters.

I am thankful for Cyndi Sekerke. She was a beautiful soul (who had great taste in china!!) that I never met on this earth but will meet one day soon. She lived a life of love and thanksgiving all the days of her life. Her favorite answer to the question "How are you feeling, Cyndi" was the simple answer, "Blessed" as she endured cancer.

I am thankful for Aunt Ellie. She was bigger-than-life and, although she had no children of her own, was the crazy cool aunt to everyone else's children....which included me. She would have been over-the-moon happy to see us sharing her silver with our family and, it may have been my imagination, but I swear, I could hear her robust laughing at the table last night.

"Be Thankful.....In All Things, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Friends.

The Real Deal

November 15, 2023

This - Man......

How I got so blessed to be CHOSEN by God to be his wife during this 4th quarter of our lives, I will never know. But there is not a day goes by I don't thank God for gifting me with Wayne Sekerke.

He is truly, one of the Kindest men I've ever met.

A few months after we started dating, he introduced me to his friends at his Fielder South Oaks Church in Mansfield. I was excited, anxious and curious all rolled into one. But as I entered the foyer of this precious church, there was a line of people just as excited, anxious and curious to meet me. These were his friends. His best friends. And they were also his late-wife Cyndi's friends. Enter "Nervous" into my range of emotions.

But there was a constant comment they all whispered in my ear as they hugged me for the first time that day: "Wayne Is The Real Deal" they all said. I breathed easier hearing this from those who had known and loved him for many years.

Over the course of the past three years of knowing Wayne, I have discovered over and over again, this statement to be true. He puts everyone ahead of himself in ALL things. He is the most selfLESS person this chick Liz has ever met. Just ask anyone who knows him....they'll tell ya.

He understands the importance of watering relationships and stopping his life to help theirs. It's nothing for him to take a day off work to spend with a neighbor he doesn’t know well who is going through a serious illness so his wife can get out of the house. This past weekend, he flew to CA to see his late-wife's parents.....a family he loves deeply and considers his own. He flew his grown sons in from the opposite end of the state to also spend time with the grandparents they love. It's what Wayne Sekerke does. He can't help it....it's just who he is.

So why am I telling you this? Maybe it's because most of us could learn from the example of Wayne Sekerke....myself included. Maybe we need to embrace others....before we embrace ourselves.

This man.....he is a quiet doer.....not expecting accolades for the kindness he extends to those around him or expecting anything in return. He does it because he simply doesn't know how not to.  

He is truly....."The Real Deal".

Age Is Something That Doesn't Matter....Unless You Are A Cheese

"AGE IS SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T MATTER.....

UNLESS YOU ARE A CHEESE"

November 7, 2023

This man.....my Dad....my Pappo (pronounced Pop-O), is no cheese. He has decided that being near-96 years of age is a good time to learn how to install a zipper in his britches. Last month....he was learning how to play the piano. Month before that, he was hoping to learn how to play the mandolin. Month before that, he was trying to negotiate a storage room at his Independent Living Center so he could set up shop to fix walkers for the residents.

Each Tuesday, I drive 1-1/2 hours to have lunch at Brahms or Cotton Patch with this crazy sweet man in anticipation of learning what he's trying to do that week.

It's a fun season with this almost 96 year old father of mine. He keeps my siblings and me on our toes (our inherited web-toes we got from him, BTW) and we're constantly looking at Life 360 to confirm where he is.

He no longer tells us "NO" but rather, "Well, if you think I should". Those words weren't in his vocabulary two years ago. He trusts us to help him....he laughs more....he shares his sometimes bizarre memories and wisdom with us and always...

.....always tells me he loves me.

 #tuesdayswithpappo

Better Than The Beginning Of Our Lives.....Is The End

 Charles (Chuck) Etheridge

11-5-2018

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November 5, 2023

My Missing Chuck < (is less than) My Joy of Him Being Healed.

It has always been a common phrase of my Dad's to say, "There's worse things than death". I thought he was crazy...until death touched close to MY home and I realized....dang, he was right.

Worse than death, is seeing someone you love in pain and suffering.....unable to be freed from it.

I miss Chuck every day, but only for a little while. My missing him does not begin to equal the JOY of knowing our prayers were answered....Chuck Is Healed. I WILL see him again because I know he knew his Creator. This I know with certainty.

I have an appreciation for death...a thankfulness for it actually. For those of us who believe in Christ, we know that death is life's defining moment. It is the point where the final touch is put on each person's life portrait and our real life…the life we were always meant to have….is just beginning. A Forever life. Like being woken up for the first time.

Charles Spurgeon once said, "We are all born dying. Because of sin, our bodies are born broken - fearfully and wonderfully made, yes - but hurtling towards death from the moment of our conception."

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We can be assured that....better than the beginning of our lives.....is the end. For so long, I had my definition of death all backwards.

So today, the day 5 years ago he arrived Home, I celebrate that man named Charles, Chuck, Bur, Grandpa Charlie.....and I thank God deeply for "rescuing" him from this old world of ours. He is Home. He is Safe. He is Well.

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What more could a wife ask for?