I’m very thankful to the people who gave AnnaLeah the opportunity, as a teenager, to care for young children at a weekly Women’s Bible Study as well as at a preschool. She was so good with little ones — able to relate to them and captivate their hearts. At the same time, she was a deep thinker and well-read.
At the time, I might have said, “What good experience you’re getting to develop your skills for the future.” In retrospect, it turns out that there was no future for her in which she actually made good use of those skills. In my darker moments, I might even think, “Well, what was the point of all that then?”
All the same, I am glad for AnnaLeah that while she was here, she gave fully of herself. She laughed. She thought great thoughts and wrote inspiring words. She enjoyed her life and through it touched other people, who loved and appreciated her.
AnnaLeah’s time on earth did not prepare her for a life which unfolded into old age. No matter. AnnaLeah’s simple acts of kindness, her winsome ways with little children, her natural gift of storytelling and her ability to draw you into her laughter, along with her pondering of wondrous things. . . these were not meant for the future. They made for richness in the daily moments of her life and now bring to mind treasured memories of the past.
Her greatest adventure is what lies ahead. . . in an infinity of days with her heavenly Father — joy unspeakable. Still, I’m only being honest when I say how unfathomable it is that her life here on earth is over — just like that — and how much I wish it wasn’t so.
AnnaLeah. Forever 17. Never Forgotten.
Good news: Nothing to fear!: Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary
