As I look at my callendar I noticed that today is September 21st. For many people this is just an ordinary day, but for our family it would have been Maria's sweet 16th birthday had she not passed away suddenly from a narcotic toxicity issue following her surgery on June 10th, 2007. I kept thinking about what kind of day her Sweet 16th birthday might have been had everything had gone right. I imagine I as her dad would have ordered the birthday cake from the local Byerly's store and that mom would have gone shopping for birthday gifts for our 16 year old daughter.
There is the remote possibility that she would have passed her drivers test on this date and with that she would be all smiles and reminding her brother that she was going to be a better driver than him. We would of likely taken her to her favorite restaurant for dinner on this date. If she had her license we would have had her drive all of us there.
Maria would have likely received several phone calls from her aunts, uncles, and only living grand parent. Like her brother she likely would have had her own cell phone and like her brother she would be making plans to do things with her friends.
Life isn't always fair. Things happen in life which bring to an end promising lives of young people. Every day there are young people who die from diseases, motorcycle accidents, car accidents, or medication toxicity problems like Maria. Like the head coach who second guesses the wrong play that loses his team's chances of winning the super bowl we as parents have a tendancy to second guess all the decisions we make about our child's death.
Our family knew and loved our Savior, Jesus Christ. Each of our kids prayed with us every night before they went to sleep and they each knew that should they not wake up they will be with Jesus. My wife reminded me that when she walked into Maria's room she had a large smile on her face. Although we would rather have her with us we knew that she was in the very presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and we knew that when our time comes that not only will we see Jesus, but we will again see our daughter. When we do I am sure my daughter would admonish me by saying, " you worried about me all those years? Didn't you know where I would be?"
In honor of Maria's sweet 16th birthday I have posted Chris Rice's song for enjoyment. If you have kids I encourage you to contact your children, regardless of age, and tell them how much you love them. If they ask why you said that just tell them that this is in honor of Maria's sweet 16th birthday.
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