For Jaxon

Three days ago, my mom's cousin and his wife and two sons were in a horrific car accident, and the oldest son passed away. The father and the younger brother were transported to the hospital, and for a long while, we were unsure whether they would survive or not. By the grace of God, they did, but my cousin's death shook the family, especially because he was so young.
It arrives as a full-bodied shock when we hear of a family member passing away, but said shock is intensified when death blindsides us. Considering this for the past few days, I realized that this is the first encounter, at lease concerning my family, where someone hale and healthy died. Everyone else lived full and long lives, dying of either old age or a long-term illness that provided us time to prepare and say our goodbyes.
Nothing like that happened with Jaxon, and although I didn't know him as well as I would have liked (his family lives several states away and we don't have the opportunity to visit them often), my heart still grieves, and it probably will for a long time.
This is for you, Jaxon--a celebration of your life.


Pretending to know or understand your plan is absurd.
I don’t know.
I can’t know.
I won’t even attempt to surmise
What you’re thinking when you act.
It’s futile.
Vanity.
And utterly exhausting—
Beyond everything in my meager capability to fathom.
So I won’t ask why tragedy occurs
Out of the blue, blindsiding all of us.
I won’t ask why you allow the
Young,
Innocent, 
Children
To die without reaching adulthood.
We say they possessed so much potential.
Possessed.
Past-tense. 
Potential.
Future implications of a goal or thing 
Not yet reached.
Yet you know, and I know, that we label things
Incorrectly and inerrantly wrong.
See, the young met their potential.
They lived their full life,
Touched,
Loved,
Lived.
And were loved dearly in return. 
They never fail to reach their potential.
They never fail to live their lives in the fullest,
However short they may be.
We speak of their lives as being snapped
By the cruelty of the
Fates,
Norns,
Moirai.
The threads of life trimmed.
Although I cannot begin to explain or understand
What you think or your reasons,
I know that all lives, however long or short,
Bear the same weight,
Purpose,
And meaning:
To glorify you and show others how to
Love,
Laugh,
Live. 
By fulfilling those things, there is no potential wasted,
No cutting short the thread.
There are only the sweet years complete
With the loving and the living.

~Abigail Blair