Afterglow

Today marks one year since we lost a friend and colleague, Mark, in a head on collision with a semi-truck.  It was by far the darkest day I have ever experienced in both my career and life.  Even when the world appears to be turning black, however, there is beauty and there is light.

This evening I took a picture a short while after the sun had set.  The sun had left for another day, but what remained was colour and beauty.  As that beauty faded, stars appeared, unveiling the majesty of the heavens and things far beyond our world.  Marks life was the same.  While he was here, he shone brightly bringing the warmth of friendship, love, caring, and life each person he interacted with.  He was a good husband and father.  A kind and compassionate EMT.  A beloved friend.  Then he disappeared from this earth.  He vanished behind the veil of death and crossed over he horizon.  His afterglow remained.

The memory of Mark, like sunset, slowly grows less prominent in our minds.  This does not mean he has lessened in our memories or that he is gone.  Eventually, the afterglow will fade, giving way to the beauty of the star-filled sky of remembrance.  Eventually we will look up at the night sky of recollection and be able to revel in what Mark has become. A beautiful point of light in our history, a star from our past.