A poignant coincidence

Created by John and Abby 10 years ago
Abby and I attended a Christmas Eve service at The Peoples Church less than a week after Charlie's memorial service at the same venue. Being there felt different, and richer, knowing that many of the congregation had contributed to the expenses of Charlie's service and that the choir, pianist and soprano had all donated their time. We have also come to know and admire Andrew, Drew, and their colleagues. We selected seats towards the back of the sanctuary. Maybe twenty minutes into the service Abby picked up her hymnal and found behind it one of the kids' activity sheets designed by Pastor Drew to help entertain children during Charlie's memorial. After the service they had been taken home by the children in attendance or collected up by the staff of Peoples Church. But this errant copy, coincidentally but poignantly left right where we had chosen to sit, had been overlooked. After a short while Abby opened it up to see if a child had tried the activities. On the first page Drew had left a space for children to fill in with words or pictures their memories of Charlie. We were choked with emotion on seeing that this young artist had produced words and a drawing that perfectly captured the spirit of Charlie. Above an arrow pointing to a smiling Charlie surrounded by friends were the crisp and true words, 'Always nice to all.' We would like to think that Charlie's example of kindness will remain in the minds of the children he knew and adored. At the very least it brings great pride, albeit painful because of the loss it entails, to know that Charlie's simple virtues were recognized when he lived. We took the sheet of paper home and have it framed on the wall leading to the playroom where Charlie kept his plastic menagerie of dragons, zombies, stuffed animals, and pirates. Thank you to the anonymous young artist.

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