A life left too soon...

I'm going to be traveling tomorrow to Virginia.
Unfortunately, it's for a funeral of a dear friend, Linda.
I have such great memories from our time there. Those memories often included a beautiful family, the Stroyecks.
Linda and Kevin opened their hearts and home to us at a time that was crucial for me.

The story goes like this...

8 years ago I was a young mom at 22 with 2 babies under 2, living FAR away from my family for the first time. Not hard to say that I was wiggin' out pretty often.

The church we had found to attend was very small. Probably just 8-10 families.
One of those families was the Stroyecks.

They were beautiful, in the most unpretentious sort of way. 4 girls with long, flowy, hippie hair, a dark haired son, a mom with the darkest wavy hair, kind eyes and soft demeanor and a dad with a goofy sense of humor and a quick smile.

Chad was in the Navy and in and out quite a bit. With 2 little babies, church was difficult at best and flat out frustating at worst. This family just helped. When I needed to leave with Autumn, they entertained Elijah. When I had to take out Elijah, they held Autumn for me. This sort of thing turned into invitations for dinner to their house, requests for babysitting by me, and eventually, I just felt like I fit there with them.

Holidays were spent there if we couldn't get back to the Midwest.

Kevin, the dad, LOVED to bar-b-q and he was GOOD at it. Like, grilled scallops, salmon and steak, good. No burgers and hot dogs for this guy!

My brother Luke became very sick during this time and passed away. I don't even know if Linda and her family knows how critical they were for me. My family was so far away and I just desperately needed a family.
4 lovely daughters and a son that let us be a part of their family. At the time, the younger 2 girls, Caroline and Morgan were so fun and sweet. They LOVED Elijah and Autumn. Elijah called Caroline, Caro-lion, and to this day I always call her that too :)

In what was a very difficult time for me with very little kids, an often absent husband, no family around, and losing my brother, this family was there. They filled a void that really needed to be filled.

Linda, the mom, was diagnosed with cancer several years ago and received a bone marrow transplant. She then developed graft vs. host, which caused it's own health problems. She was by no means healthy anymore, but she was not dying either. Thursday she went in to the doctor because of pain in her left shoulder. She passed out, went into cardiac arrest and the medical team was not able to revive her. Her children are now in their 20s and early teens.

I want to be at the funeral so they know what their mom and wife did for me as a young mom and what their family means to me.

I cannot imagine loosing my mother at such a young age. Words don't come to express that emotion.

As I remember that time in our lives and the way Linda embraced us and so effortlessly had room in her heart and lives for us, I can only hope that I too, can be that for someone sometime.