The Places We Find Grace

This is the first of at least three posts which I will be sharing in advance of Redding's Relay For Life event on Saturday, June 6th at Shasta College.  As a cancer survivor, I continue to be struck by the pervasiveness of cancer in our lives.  If you haven't had it, you probably know someone who has, cared for someone who has, or been a part of a family who has been devastated by the disease.  My goal with these posts is to bring awareness (or a reminder) of how widespread the impacts of cancer are, and how important it is to find a cure for a disease which is so indiscriminate in its direct and indirect impacts on people, families, and communities.  

"I've known your husband so long, that I was actually taller than he was when we first met," I told her.

We both tittered at that, since her husband, Tom, is a towering six feet, four inches.  Tom and I met when we were in about the third and fourth grades, respectively.

I had never met Mosette in person until yesterday.  Married to someone I grew up with in Shingletown, we were mere Facebook friends.  When I saw her post, looking for a ride to the airport in Sacramento, something moved inside me.  I messaged her that I could give her a ride if she still needed one.  As most of you can probably guess, the fact that we had never met in person was little deterrent to me picking her, another stranded traveler, and their luggage up at Redding's little airport.

Suddenly, the odd fact that I had been unable for a week to schedule anything on the massage calendar for that morning made total sense-- unawares, I had a different calling for the day.

Their plane had broken down, and passengers were told that it would be five hours until they could get the flight back on track, if at all.  Because Mosette was on her way to Arizona's Cancer Treatment Center of America to be with her husband, time was of the essence.  

Having never met her, I was not entirely sure what to expect when I arrived at the airport.  I've had a similar cancer to the one her husband is battling, but I was in a lesser stage.  I can only imagine the stress this woman is under.  

What I encountered when I pulled up was a woman with a smile on her face.  She glowed.  We got her and the gal from Virginia, whose name, regrettably, I cannot even remember, all loaded up and we hit the road.

I had bought them some Dutch Bros., so we were fueled up on every level for the trip.

Mosette and I talked almost non-stop all the way to Sacramento.  Because we know so many people tangentially to one another, it was like a strange homecoming, and an odd sort of fill-in-the-blanks.  I learned about how she and Tom met, the three wonderful children they are raising, her efforts to obtain an education, and a lot about the amazing, stalwart effort she has put into caring for and supporting her husband and their children through this difficult time.

We talked about the the incredible network of support she and Tom have had over the past year.  They say it takes a village to raise a child.  It takes one to raise children and run a home when cancer calls on a family as well.  To say that her family has been covered by grace is an understatement.

The thing that stuck me most deeply as this woman shared her story, was her execution of grace.  I don't know that I have ever encountered someone who could walk with such dignity, honor, strength, courage, and understanding through such a difficult life event.  She spoke with a matter-of-factness draped in an incredible love and resolve as she shared the reality of end-of-life issues for her husband.

When I dropped her off, I helped her unload her luggage, gave her a hug, and wished her safe travels.
I prayed on my drive back north, tearfully interceding for Mosette, for Tom, for their children, extended family, and everyone who has been helping pull the load for this family.  And still, I was struck by her grace.

I ruminated on that for quite a while.  I realized that we receive grace in this life.  It's a thing.  From family, friends, other humans, who give us that which we do not necessarily deserve.  Those of us who believe in God receive a grace, which is defined as unmerited favor from a loving deity.

What I also realized, is that grace is active.  Grace is a verb.  According to Merriam-Webster's, grace is to confer dignity or honor upon (someone or something).  How many of us stand active in our grace in this way?

Even with the inevitability of the way cancer is changing her family, she walks in, and with, an Amazing Grace.

To watch a woman with so much on her plate confer such grace during a time of dismay in her family was awe-inspiring.  I drove two women to the airport yesterday.  I drove home humbled.  Changed.