What will I always remember about Carla? Well, for starters, she rode a motorcycle and drove a big blue hippie van back in the day. She was very cool! She loved to camp and fish with my Aunt Grace. She was fun and outdoorsy, and she loved the lake. She didn’t like me much when I was little because I was kind of a whiney little girl. Who could blame her? However, as I got older, she changed her view of me and we got close.
Carla’s father died when I was still a kid. I had been very close to him and my aunt. I stayed with them all the time. They were all so much fun! At his funeral, I started crying uncontrollably, and Carla came to me and hugged me and told me he was in better place. She said all the right things. She consoled me at her own father’s funeral. That was my Carla.
Carla was a nurse, and because of that, all through my childhood, I wanted to be a nurse. Whenever any one of us ended up in the hospital (Didn’t matter which hospital or which city it was in), she always showed up.
Before I went in to have gall bladder surgery, in walked Carla. Surprise! She was also there when I woke up in recovery.
When my husband found himself suddenly in the hospital with sepsis with the doctor’s assurance that he would not survive the night (he did, by the way), Carla drove two hours in the middle of the night to be with me. I hadn’t even known that she knew, but there she was, walking towards me (broken mess that I was) as I waited outside ICU. She gave me the biggest hug and sat with me for the longest time. That’s Carla. She always showed up when needed, and she never waited to be asked.
I have already lost both of my parents and all of my grandparents. It’s scary when you realize that you can’t “go home to Mom” anymore, but she eased that burden for me. Always a rock for everyone.
Carla faced some serious illnesses in her last years, but she always won the battle. Just like my mom who had fought her own battles in the last years of her life, she was tired, and she finally let go. Another rock who has rolled away into greener pastures. I’m really happy for her. She is now in the arms of Jesus and is reunited with her parents and mine. I can see them now, having a big cookout next to the River of Life probably playing Dominoes.
Someday, when it’s my turn to let go of this life, I know she will be waiting to greet me with a big hug at Heaven’s door—because that’s my Carla.
Walker Lane 