YA'LL COME

Saturday, January 05, 2008

We were living in Northern California and my brother and his family lived in Southern California. They had just come for a visit and were loading up their car and getting ready to go home. After everybody had hugged and said their good-byes, my brother turned to us and said, “Come back.” Everybody started laughing and said to him, “You’re not the one to say, ‘Come back’, you’re leaving.” He smiled and said, “Well, I thought somebody ought to say it.”

Yes they should. And we would have if we had been given time. A few years later my brother was killed in an automobile accident. He will not be coming back! I realize how short life is and also how quickly it can be taken from us. I wish our relatives lived closer and that we visited more often.

My brother will not be back but his son and his son’s wife will be coming for a visit tomorrow. I have swept off the welcome mat and Charlotte is baking a cake. We will greet them with, “We’re glad you came” and when they leave we will say, “Come back soon!”

Life is short. We need to spend more time with and communicate more with our friends and loved ones.