Meet Babe

Meet Babe.Her skin is dark and weathered.  Her hair is sun bleached.   Her body is thin, her legs almost useless.Every day she maneuvers her scooter up the beach crossover ramp till she can see the ocean.  Every day she sits there for hours, reveling in the view, appreciating that the beauty of God’s creation is free!Babe is 87.She has lived most of her life in Cape Canaveral.  Back then the streets in town weren’t even paved.  The tourists hadn’t come yet.  She and her husband, Paul, worked for NASA in several cities, then came back to Florida and managed the local bowling alley—they knew everyone in town.Even today almost everyone who passes her on the way to the beach says, “Hi Babe.”Babe and Paul had a wonderful life together—married for 59 years.But life has been hard for her.  Three children all passed ahead of her—children aren’t supposed to die before their parents.  A little girl died at 5 from a liver ailment—it would have been treatable now.  A 28-year-old son was murdered in his apartment.  And a 46-year-old son died in a tragic accident.She told me about them with damp eyes.  But then the tears flowed as she said her Paul died five months ago.  “We did everything together.”  A fresh wound.  An immense grief.  A deep loneliness.Babe has three grandchildren spread across the country—they call her every week.  The people from the old  church bowling leagues still pray for her.  “I have friends who check on me—they are all much younger than I am.”Babe, are you angry at God for all your losses?“No, not angry.  Sometimes I wonder why.  My children!!  And I miss Paul so much.  But always God is with me.  He shares the entire ocean with me.  He never leaves me alone.“And I will see them all again someday.”