My friend Charity has cancer. This hit all of us in the blogosphere community who know her like a bombshell. Laura has invited us to share our feelings in our respective spaces, and she is graciously compiling a list of those reflections. So, here goes.

I've found myself weeping throughout the afternoon. Who can read about capital asset management and business valuation after hearing news like this? Somehow studying for a quiz doesn't seem all that important now.

It's strange how you can find yourself missing someone you've never met. Strange how the fact of your loving that person hits you square between the eyes, or straight to the center of your heart, when you're faced with this kind of news.

I love her. Even though I've barely known her.

Yet what I've known has been precious to me. Charity will never know how much her sweet life has impacted me personally, but it has done so profoundly. As I shared with her in a comment on a recent post she wrote after a long absence, even her silence moves and teaches me. Though she does not comment frequently here, what she does contribute always carries substance and gentle encouragement that soothes my spirit. Her name is one that always makes my heart leap when it shows up at unexpected times in the comment conversations my blog sometimes begets.

That's about all I have to share right now. That, and the fact that I'm beginning to grasp that loss really is an inherent part of our lives, and I really don't like that God has allowed it to be that way. Why must we bear the pain of losing those we love? Is it to increase the leap of joy we'll feel when we recognize one another again in the New City? I hope so. Maybe then we will fully understand what we meant to one another here on earth, in the time we shared together.