I have brothers--no sister--but I have come to love my first cousin, Frankye, in the way it must be to love a sister.
Her words to me yesterday after reading the post:
I don't think I ever told you this, but the night before your dad died, I dreamed of his funeral. I didn't realize how sick he was as we weren't really in touch then...God's kindness leaped out at me.
Our dads were brothers, and hers, too, died from cancer but many years before. She was left without her dad whom she adored much sooner than I, and I often wondered what that must have been like.
It seems her dream was God's mercy to move her gently toward another family loss. We were together often as young children, and the brothers were so close in those years. This death would be a fresh and poignant reminder of warm and wonderful memories.
A bit of warning sometimes helps the heart prepare, even if we don't realize this gift of warning until much later.
Thank you, God, for your tender preparation of loss and the exceeding mercy of your love.
