Go There People

june 10th, 2013 was noah's due date. it's also his aunt laura's birthday.

these two have much in common.

and i want to say the old cliche that people say after going through a hard time,

it really showed us who our friends were 

because that is true.
but there's so much more to it than that.

very early on when noah got sick it became starkly clear who we'd be able to draw strength from because they were drawn to pain. and not in an ambulance-chaser-looky-loo type way. but in the sincerest way i can mean it.

my counselor calls these types of people the ones who go there.

some people, we have learned, dodge the deep stuff because they just aren't built (seemingly) to "do pain." to which we've had to say, "peace out." pain is who we are. and unfortunately some of these people were close friends, and even family.

go there people are the people doing life the way it was intended.
making sacrifices for what's good, true and right. putting themselves out there in hopes that somehow they can use their life to make this world we live in better.

do whatever you can to be a go there person. it might not be the easy way. the comfortable way. or the way that's known, or makes sense. but it's the way that truly matters. because really. what else is there?

i question whether there's really even a reason to be alive other than to be a go there person.

if all people said at my memorial service was that i did a good job saving money, played a great tennis game and knew a lot of trivia. that would make me sick. (if you know me at all, i don't think we have to worry about a few of those ever being said about me...)

the ultimate go there person is the One and Only J.C. (He "went there" and entered into this mess to be with us.) so i'm going to look to him to give me ideas how go there-ing is done.

so maybe He can help me be this person...

her life was lived open, consistently welcoming the wounded warriors into her heart and home.
she kept no record of wrongs, but lived out forgiveness by showing up no matter what.
she was drawn to the broken, she didn't hold back out of fear.
love always won, in her heart, home and community.

noah's aunt laura is a go there person. and she inspires me, along with my dearest noah, to be a go there person too.

happy birthday, TSIL.
happy due date, sweet son.

our boy, june 10th, 2013