Remembering Melinda

Tomorrow will mark exactly a month since my sister in law Melinda passed away.  I wanted to write this blog sooner to honor her memory, but the pain was just too much to bear at the time.  The last time I saw her, I told Melinda that I would see her again soon.  Neither she nor I wanted to even acknowledge the possibility that this was the last time were were ever going to see each other.  We had just brought in 2013 together, along with my brother David and their daughters Elizabeth and Rebecca.  We had just celebrated a family wedding.  This was not how things were supposed to happen.  

As time has gone by, I realize that there wasn't any thing that any of us could do to stop things from happening the way that they were supposed to.  I continue to hope that there is a reason for how things turned out in the end.  Meanwhile, please indulge me while I tell you more about Melinda, and what she came to mean to the people she loved.

I remember the first time I met Melinda. She walked into our home holding my brother David's hand, in a white and peppermint colored striped dress.  She wore white sandals and carried a white handbag.  Melinda was so well put together.  She was meeting our family for the first time, but felt so comfortable doing so, you would have thought she knew us forever.

A year and a half later, David and Melinda were married. 

About six months after that, I had a chance to spend some time alone with my new sister in law when she asked me to join her on a short trip to New Delhi.  It had been two months since my father had passed, and 
Melinda thought that I could use a break.  As part of the Air India flight crew, some of the perks that 
Melinda enjoyed was five star accommodation and a food allowance.  Melinda made sure I had one of the 
best vacations ever.

If you were ever privileged enough to experience Melinda’s hospitality, you would realize that she would 
go out of her way to make you feel comfortable and would treat you like royalty.  She would plan the 
most elaborate and lavish meals, take you out, make sure you had the chance to do things that you truly 
enjoyed.  She somehow managed to pull this off even when I visited David, Melinda and the girls on 
the ship in Vancouver BC and then in Astoria OR.  So many people have expressed that even her illness 
didn't prevent her from continuing to extend that level of hospitality over the past couple of years.  

Melinda was so much more than that though.  She grabbed life by the horns and hung on for the ride.  
Melinda had such a zest for living.  She loved music, she loved to dance, she loved to cook, she 
loved to throw lavish parties.  She most definitely enjoyed the finer things in life. Melinda was always impeccably dressed, even for a trip to the grocery store.  Her job as a flight attendant who traveled Internationally provided her with so many different cultural experiences.  She generously shared these experiences with us by bringing home exotic foods and all kinds of knick-knacks from various parts of the world.  Melinda also had this gift of being able to talk to just about anybody and make them feel comfortable in her presence.  I thought that this gift existed only for the adults in her life, but when her first niece LeaAnne was born, I saw how much Melinda enjoyed being a new aunt. Melinda also had a great sense of humor, which included being able to laugh at herself.  I remember playing numerous rounds of the game Pictionary.  Melinda's ability to draw, or rather lack thereof, provided much mirth for the rest of us.  All of the animals she drew came with chicken legs, whether it was an elephant, a cow, or, yes, a chicken. We would burst into bouts of belly-aching laughter at her sketches, but Melinda was a great sport about it.

Somewhere along this wonderful journey of life, Melinda found the Lord and accepted Him into her life.  
She walked away from a job that she had loved so much and had so much success with since an early 
age.  People thought she was crazy, but she wanted to spend more time with her husband.  I watched 
as their relationship grew stronger and watched them become the most awesome parents to Lisa and 
Rebecca.  

When she was diagnosed with cancer in early 2012, Melinda didn't allow her illness to define her or take anything away from her.  Whenever she provided updates on her health, she always sounded so positive that she would overcome her illness. She made huge strides toward improved health and it was such a blessing to see her so well in January of 2013. Melinda was happy and healthy and was so full of positive energy. Little did I think that would be the last time I spent time with my sister in law who had now become the sister I never had.

Melinda, it has been a privilege to know you.  I miss you more than I thought I would, but there’s so much I’ve 
learned from you.  I have seen inner strength that knows no bounds.  I have seen a positive attitude 
to the worst of times.  You were courage exemplified, you were faith personified. 

I love you.