Our Losses are Heaven’s Gains…

April has been quite sad this year, well, at least in terms of deaths. A little over two weeks ago, the young wife of one our youngest Branch Managers suddenly passed away. She was 21 at the time and she had just given birth to a baby girl only a week before she died. There’s an old Arabic saying (which I honestly heard for the first time on that tragic day) that goes: a woman’s grave remains open for 40 days after she gives birth, and if she dies during that period, she goes straight to heaven. I heard she had had a stoke, and when I went to pay my respects at their house, their newly built house for that matter, I couldn't bare to look at the smiling photographs of the newly weds (married in July of 2010, less than a year ago!) that decorated the house…

Since then, my ex-boss’s cousin’s mum, my colleague’s grandma’s sister, and a bunch of other people I never knew have left this world…

But then last night, just before I was about to log off Facebook and go sleep, I noticed that an old friend I hadn't spoken to in months had changed his profile picture to one of him and his brothers when they were kids. I clicked on it and thought, oh how cute. I then clicked on his wall which was flooded with posts of condolences. I couldn't understand at first, “we’re sorry for your family’s loss…” I kept scrolling down until I read a word that made my heart sink: “Mom”. His mother had passed away. And then, for the first time since I've been hearing of all these latest deaths, I began to cry…

I’ll admit I don’t know them that well, I didn't even know their mother personally, but I’ve spent quite a good time with the boys during the summer of 2009, during their visit to Lebanon (they live in Florida). The three of them are wonderful individuals, I've always believed that. And such a loss, well, I can’t find the words to say at a time like this…

But for most of last night, I spent it in bed looking up at the ceiling, thinking about life and the people in it, and how we take most of them for granted. I thought about a hundred things, I couldn't sleep well but it made me count some blessings I hadn’t counted in a long time… RIP L.M. “Our Losses are Heaven’s Gains…”

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* I have heard of two more losses since the writing of this post.Black April :(