November 6, 2021
Melissa Dunn
How long can one year be? 12 months? 52 weeks? 365 days? 8,760 hours? 525,600 minutes? What about when time itself seems to warp so that every one of those segments multiplies itself to take even longer?
Today is the first Friday in November — the same day of the week that I was awakened by Jacob to find Melissa on the floor in the hallway of our home. I had no idea that just over an hour later, she would be pronounced dead in the emergency room of one of our local hospitals.
In calendar days, it happened on November 6, 2020, and the one-year anniversary of that would obviously be tomorrow, but honestly, at this point, my mind and my body can’t even differentiate between the two.
I remember details of that day as if they just happened, and yet, I don’t really want to recount them. I know what my pains are, and what my son’s pains are. We’ve learned how to live with those.
I’d rather focus on imagining what Melissa would have experienced after leaving this Earth: of leaving behind the mortal shell of a body that had failed her so often in her last few years; of arriving in Heaven to be greeted by our dear Savior, Jesus Christ, and being embraced by Him; of looking around and seeing all the wonders of Heaven that we can only imagine; of walking on those famous streets of pure gold and meeting again those who have gone on before; of being reunited with grandparents and friends; of getting to meet some of her biblical heroes; of lifting her voice in song and praise to God the King.
Yes, we miss her terribly, but we are confident in God’s promises of where she is now, and that we will be reunited with her one day.
Until then, we carry on here, taking the very best of her with us: her love for others; her complete willingness to step in and help however she could; her encouragement to those who needed it; her acceptance and protection of people as they are; her bravery to fight for what she believed was right and important; and her unflagging desire to be as unique as God made her to be.
In memoriam: Melissa Anne (Van Der Linden) Dunn, October 20, 1974 to November 6, 2020. In our hearts forever. ♥️
Posted on 2021-11-05 #anniversary #grief #Melissa Dunn