What Does Jud See Now? A Note From Jan.

Spent the morning and early afternoon attending a funeral and luncheon in Gloucester. Not my funeral, so it was a good day.  Like weddings, funerals gather families and friends together, another opportunity to love, forgive, laugh and remember. A chance to recommit, to do better, to savor cherished moments.

As I walked from the car to the condo, phone buzzed in my pocket.  I’d shut it off during the funeral.   A phone call from a friend inviting me to join her for lunch later this week. A second call came after I’d hung up my coat—a reminder for Robert (Jud’s legal medical name) that he has his annual eye check-up on Thursday. I said he would not be coming, nor would they need to reschedule. She now knows that Jud’s dead. No more annual check-ups. Hard to say or write.

This sets me to wondering, again. What does Jud see? “Eye has not seen what God has prepared for those who love Him.” Does he see it now? “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Is he filled with “WOW”? (not his style, nor word, more mine) Is he showing June Bodoni’s Dad (his funeral today) around the shoreline of heaven? June’s Dad was a true Gloucester fisherman.

Did Jud’s Dad meet Phil Bodoni? They were closer in age… loved to fish, float about in boats and were both jerry-riggers. All scraps held possibilities…potential treasures. From a generation of savers, nothing wasted!  A purpose for everything…some way…somehow.

We learned from the loving memoir June wrote about her father that he wasn’t big on words. A man of action.  Crusty old Italian. Hardy New Englander type. Hard to know what they really thought about God…or you. Not hard to know God’s view of them. “God so loved the world”…loved and loves Phil Bodoni.

Well, I don’t know, for sure, what Jud or Phil see. I do know that I’m tired of seeing white (snow in varying shades) and red. Tonight I went through the house removing all red accents. They worked well from after Thanksgiving through February. Time for yellow. Time for Spring.

But we’re supposed to get more snow tonight. Maybe break a record. or a back…from shoveling. The book of Job talks about the “storehouses of snow” in heaven. Must be close to empty by now.