I would have said…

…I love you… but I actually did; even if I hadn’t … Sheila knew that.
…you make me a better person … but Sheila knew that.
…I love that you listen to me cry over my children and don’t judge my parenting … but Sheila knew that.
…I need more friends like you … but Sheila knew that friendships like ours don’t happen often.
…you make me feel more confident … but Sheila had a way of making everyone believe they could do anything.
…I feel comfortable with you … but Sheila made everyone feel comfortable.
Had I known my conversation last weekend with my sweet friend Sheila would be my last, I would have said… exactly what I did say because Sheila brought that out in me.
I have nothing to say in goodbyes that I didn’t say during her life, and I didn’t need her to say anything that she hadn’t already said.
Tonight, I mourn my own loss and rejoice that she will not suffer a long, drawn out battle with the cancer that mercifully took her today as she slept, unaware the end of this mortal life had come. I pray for her faithful husband Allan, her son Kevin and his wife Lauren, and her sweet Emily and her husband John. We have this hope in Christ Jesus, that we shall see our sister Sheila again.
Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
…and that’s the view from My Front Porch