It's Not Supposed to Be Like This

(Be forewarned that this post is pretty raw.)

I went to a funeral yesterday. Pretty sure it was a 24 inch casket, all decked out in pink flowers. My neighbors' precious, innocent, beautiful, 2 1/2-month-old baby girl died in their arms Monday.

It's not supposed to be like this.

Oh, but it is like this. It's excruciating. I've recently prayed for another beautiful family who lost another beautiful baby and a friend who suddenly lost a long-time friend who had only just become his girlfriend.

As this amazing mother who had only 16 days with her son wrote, "When I consider the collective weight of grief people are bearing, I am amazed that the world does not sink under it."

I've heard that "everything happens for a reason," that somehow we should be okay with this. People are uncomfortable, I suppose, with the wrongness of all of it. They want to make it cleaner, make it somehow okay.

My feelings are too much to articulate. So I will only say this:

This is not the way it's supposed to be. Say what you want about death or grief, but don't try to make it okay. People are walking around with these gaping wounds left on their souls when loved ones have gone. It is not okay.

Parents should be able to raise their children. Lovers should have a chance to build their lives together. It's just not supposed to be like this.