Real Life by Peggi Tustan

Welcome to Real Life . Like it or not, death is a part of real life. Theresa (Salva) Keeler September 8, 1957 - July 7, 2023 Theresa/Terre/Tess [1]  was my sister, my friend from the moment of my birth until her last breath. I don’t know how to live without a sister. I don’t want to learn. Yet, in the midst of my sadness, I am incredibly grateful God blessed me with a sister. In many ways, Terre and I were black and white. We did not look like sisters. We grew up sharing a room, and drove each other crazy with her messiness and my neatness. She was Miss Morning Sunshine. I crawled out of bed and growled. Bone deep, however, we were the same. Our foundation stones were cut from the same quarry. We were the daughters of Slovak immigrants who were fiercely proud of both their US citizenship and their Slovak heritage. Our father arrived on this continent in his thirties with little more than the clothes on his back. Our childhood was simple and carefree. My mother did not drive, s...

Welcome to Real Life . Death, where is your sting? “Some day you will read in the papers, ‘D. L. Moody of East Northfield is dead.’ Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal.” –D.L. Moody (1837–99) Will I die of Coronavirus? Perhaps like me, you’ve asked yourself this question. Daily, the death toll rises from this insidious disease. We stay home. We wash our hands. We work from home. We worship at home. What if it’s not enough?  “I’m ready,” I told my son on the phone the other day. God has blessed me with a wonderful life. I don’t want to die. I have much to live for! But if I die, I’m content. I am a child of God. He knows me. He loves me. He protects me. I rest securely in his hands. My Heavenly Father has already determined the day of my death. If I die from Coronavirus, then God allowed it and nothing could keep me alive. A...