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The December Email



    One December day, several years ago, I got an email from a friend saying he knew a little girl, Melanie, who was suffering from brain tumors and would enjoy receiving Christmas Cards even from folks she didn’t know. Melanie’s story, and her grim prognosis, made me want to do more so I discussed the situation with a couple of my other friends who agreed that doing more than sending a card was in order.

    My friends and I decided to ride our motorcycles from Atlanta to Chicago to visit and deliver gifts. Winter weather and work schedules prevented us from making the trip until just after the first of January, but make it we did. We met Melanie and her mom on that cold winter night and God took the opportunity that day to change my life.

    Mel was a pre-teen at the time and I learned later that she had been battling brain tumors all of her life. Before her first birthday Doctors told her mom, Loretta, to take her home and make her comfortable because she’d never see that birthday. Loretta and Mel’s dad, Steve, did take her home and make her comfortable but they never bought into the terminal diagnosis. Mel and her whole family fought the tumors so valiantly and were rewarded with many more years of life for “the little girl who asked for Christmas Cards.”

    During the next few years, I was blessed with the opportunity to become friends with Mel and her family. During that time I was repeatedly astounded at the details of their saga and inspired by the love, courage, and strength with which this family confronted the journey on their path through the garden of life. Mel spent more than 20 years among us, teaching us in her own divinely inspired way, that love for one another is very powerful. Amazing, unexpected, wonderful, and beautiful things happen when love is applied more vigorously to everyday life. Mel taught me this. Observing her family interact showed me this.

    Even though she doesn’t walk among us anymore, Mel reaches down from Heaven frequently to guide me along my own path. The memories I have of her bring a smile to my soul and remind me of what good there is in this life. She is as alive for me today as she was for those years I could walk with her. I am a better person than I would have been if I had not received that email from a friend about a little girl in Chicago who asked for Christmas Cards.


Happy Birthday, Mel!


PS - I wrote this message in October 2021 in connection with Melanie's birthday. I first met Mel in 2000. She was called home in 2013 and her memory remains strong today.

Comments

  1. JaneOctober 1, 2021 at 4:23 PM

    What a wonderful relationship you and Melanie shared. I know you miss her❣️

    ReplyDelete

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