I Almost Missed It



 I almost let it slip away.


For the last two weeks. I have thought about my friend Rachael, who passed away a year ago, often. 


 I had decided it would be a great idea to come up with a grand gesture to properly honor the beautiful woman she was….but I didn’t do it. 


And then this morning a friend posted that today marked the one year anniversary. I was going to be hard on myself for not knowing the day, but I realized I could instead be thankful she DID know the day.


I remembered the last thing I did for Rachael in this life was to make her some strawberry jam.


I quickly decided I would make several batches and take them to all of our mutual friends with beautiful cards attached.  


Except I didn’t have the money or the time for that…so I almost scrapped it.


But then I remembered how many times we did the best we could with what we had, and had amazing things happen. That’s kind of how God works.


So the last of the strawberries from my freezer, the last of the sugar from the basement and the one box of sure-jell in my pantry (I’ll definitely be updating my shopping list!) quickly made one batch of strawberry jam which filled 4 small jars plus some for our family.  


But then I remembered I looked like I spent the day taking the dog to the vet, weeding the garden, and making strawberry jam and thought maybe dingdong ditching my friends would be kinder.


Instead, I had my daughter drive me from house to house where I got real life in-person hugs and a laugh or smile at each house.  I interrupted their daily lives of meetings, childcare, corn shucking and even got to have Ella say hello to one of them in a sweet way. 


And you know what? 


NONE of them handed it back and told me to go put on make-up first.  Or even a proper bra. 


NONE of them said they sure hoped I was stopping by all 30 employees homes.


NONE of them asked why there wasn’t a hand-stenciled card.


They didn’t care.


They only cared that I cared.  Period.


Why do we make things so complicated?  I almost missed out on Remembering Rachael because my remembering wasn’t flashy enough.


Elder Uchtdorf phrased it so well when he shared, “There is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity that we sometimes do not appreciate in our thirst for intricate solutions.”


I almost missed it.  


And I’m so glad I didn’t.

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