Matthew Beach
Michelle and I are on an airplane. It is a trip we have looked forward to for months. We are visiting our son, Matthew. He lives in Venelago, Italy and works in the nearby town of Castelfranco. It’s about an hour’s drive north of Venice. It is a time of great expectation, not just for ourselves visiting Matthew, but also for Matt himself. It will be good to see the life he has begun to build. From all we can see he has some good friends and a terrific job. We are happy for him. At the young age of 27 he seems well on his way. He has a busy itinerary in mind for us, and has taken a week of vacation to be our tour guide.
With all the happiness we always feel when we are with any of our children or grandchildren, this trip has been saddened a bit. We have some good friends who used to live near us in Virginia. They were able to retire several years ago. After selling their house they moved to Utah to be close to some of there own children. Sadly, a few weeks ago we learned that they lost one of their sons to a motorcycle accident. He was about the same age as our Matthew whom we are off to visit. Their son recently completed an advanced degree and was about to start his new career as well. Our hearts broke for them. This is something I could not imagine for a parent to have to experience.
A week before we were to leave on this trip one of the members of our church let us know that there would be a dinner for our friends who would be in attendance. Our friends really had no intention of coming to visit their many friends here in Virginia. I think they felt it might be too much to have another public event after the funeral in Utah. A number of people reached out to them and convinced them that many of us grieved for their loss, and wanted to be able to offer condolences in person, so they agreed. Sadly, the event was set for the same day we are arriving in Italy. I sent a note to the father letting him know how sad we were, and in particular that we could not be there to see them. I could not tell him at a time of remembering the son he had just lost, who had so much to live for, the son they would not see again in this life, that we were going to spend time with our own son. My note simply said we were traveling out of the country and unfortunately we could not change our plans.
I’m certain our week with Matt will be lovely. Perhaps our visit will be both heightened and tempered by the remembrance of just how precious life is. Perhaps we will be reminded just how important it is to keep strong family bonds for however long we each have in our frail mortal experience.
With all the happiness we always feel when we are with any of our children or grandchildren, this trip has been saddened a bit. We have some good friends who used to live near us in Virginia. They were able to retire several years ago. After selling their house they moved to Utah to be close to some of there own children. Sadly, a few weeks ago we learned that they lost one of their sons to a motorcycle accident. He was about the same age as our Matthew whom we are off to visit. Their son recently completed an advanced degree and was about to start his new career as well. Our hearts broke for them. This is something I could not imagine for a parent to have to experience.
A week before we were to leave on this trip one of the members of our church let us know that there would be a dinner for our friends who would be in attendance. Our friends really had no intention of coming to visit their many friends here in Virginia. I think they felt it might be too much to have another public event after the funeral in Utah. A number of people reached out to them and convinced them that many of us grieved for their loss, and wanted to be able to offer condolences in person, so they agreed. Sadly, the event was set for the same day we are arriving in Italy. I sent a note to the father letting him know how sad we were, and in particular that we could not be there to see them. I could not tell him at a time of remembering the son he had just lost, who had so much to live for, the son they would not see again in this life, that we were going to spend time with our own son. My note simply said we were traveling out of the country and unfortunately we could not change our plans.
I’m certain our week with Matt will be lovely. Perhaps our visit will be both heightened and tempered by the remembrance of just how precious life is. Perhaps we will be reminded just how important it is to keep strong family bonds for however long we each have in our frail mortal experience.
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