Saturday, February 16, 2019
Dear Joni, Kayla and family,
I am so sorry for your profound loss. May your now even more treasured memories bring you joy. May you be comforted knowing that Paul's bright light will continue to be celebrated on earth and now in heaven by countless others.
I didn't know Paul in high school he was a senior and I was a freshman. We became acquainted when we served on the Eastridge Hall of Fame Committee together. We were FB friends, too.
I was in awe of his strength as he bravely shared his cancer journey with unwavering faith, love, and gratitude for his caregivers, family and friends. I was honored to be one of his vast prayer warriors. Such an inspiration! I will continue to lift you both up in prayer and positive healing energy.
You picked the perfect picture of Paul with his ever present infectious smile no matter how difficult the challenge.
Thinking of him now, I can hear his belly laughs that made us all join in, see the impish gleam in his eyes as he contemplated his next joke, hear his kind words and feel his zest for life and people. It seems so appropriate that he passed on Valentine's Day because he spread love to all who crossed his path and beyond.
When my mom died of cancer at 58 my minister shared this poem. May it bring you the comfort it did me.
"What Cancer Cannot Do"
"Cancer is so limited
It cannot cripple love
It cannot shatter hope
It cannot corrode faith
It cannot destroy peace
It cannot kill friendship
It cannot suppress memories
It cannot silence courage
It cannot invade the soul
It cannot steal eternal life
It cannot conquer the spirit"
Paul, you fought the good fight but cancer didn't win. Your cancer will be buried with your earthly body but your soul is eternal. Rest well, pain free, good and faithful servant.
. "Unable are the loved to die for love is immortality." Emily Dickinson
