Bittersweet

Today, my sister is buying a house, a lovely house soon to be her home.

Today, a dear friend moved out of her lovely home, which now belongs to my sister. 

I’ve gained the physical closeness of my sister, but I’ve lost the physical proximity to my friend.

It’s a bittersweet day. Gain and loss always seem to go together.

When I visited with my friend Donna Pilcik Rolater recently about her decision to sell her lovely home and move back to Dallas, closer to her children, the only word I could come up was:  bittersweet. Donna and her husband, Tony, will be missed by countless people whose lives are now better because this couple moved to Bellville years ago. And even though we are happy for the exciting things in their future -- a new grandbaby they will be living close to, for one -- we are understandably sad for the void they leave behind is deep and wide. Both Donna and Tony hit the ground running once they moved here, and neither have stopped. 

And what a legacy they are leaving behind. Whether it’s Tony’s active involvement in the fire department, where his professionalism has impacted the department and benefited all of us as he has served as chief, or Donna’s tireless support in countless Christian organizations, and I do mean countless, both of them walk the walk and talk the talk.  Their lives are a true exemplification of what it means to follow Christ.

Recently, while Tony was showing Janie around the property, Donna and I talked about their impending move, the brevity of life on earth, and the quick way it can be over, and her comment will always stay with me:  you want to be by the people you love the most.  Simple words, yet packed with power. And certainly helpful in making a life-changing decision.

When my sister Janie first saw the Rolater’s home, she asked our other sister Liese and me to pray that she’d  make the right decision. While we were doing so, Donna and Tony were praying for the right person --  a believer in Christ -- to buy their house. God’s timing is always perfect. And a bittersweet deal, God-style, was done.  

So as Tony and Donna begin their new life in Dallas and Janie begins her new life in Bellville, they do so loved and cheered and encouraged by many, and I have no doubt God will continue to bless each of their lives in a way that only He can do.