Earlier this week, I emailed my close friends and family, asking for their prayers.
And the thing about prayers is: you’re never quite sure when they’ve been answered. God might grant your exact wish, or He might give you what He thinks — knows — you need.
In this case, after 5 days of illness and no known underlying health conditions (to my knowledge), Clara Jean Trotter, not quite 2, went to live with the angels in heaven this past Monday.
I’ll be honest with you: this little girl’s death really has hit me hard. And not because I was intimately acquainted with her. In fact, I had never met her.
Instead, I know her mom, Mary Jo, from back in college, and spent many a Saturday night with her and my best friend Angela, drinking Sex on the Beach at “the Brat” (also known as the Brat Kabin, who amazingly, does NOT have a website) doing shots of tequila or Goldschalger, and dancing like the crazy 20-year-olds we were. Knowing we were walking home, which was only a couple of blocks from Water Street, my worries were only as big as my next exam or term paper. (Because after all, I had performed my part-time checking job at Megafoods while hung over more than once.)
When you’re a kid, of course, things cannot happen fast enough. And suddenly you’re an adult, wondering how the years could possibly have evaporated, stunned at the intense heartbreaks in life that you never could have anticipated.
Cross (click for source)
Today’s funeral a at Grace Lutheran in Milwaukee, the Preacher spoke only of how much happiness our hearts should hold, that Clara was now sitting in the lap of Her Lord and Savior. How God’s promise to us could be thought of a dance, a waltz, three steps that are (1) Jesus dying for our sins, (2) Jesus rising from the dead, borne into eternal life, and finally, (3) our own baptism, committing our life to the Lord, therefore securing our place with Him in Heaven. (I was raised Catholic, and never heard faith described in quite this way.)
And all I could think of, as I looked at the hundreds of Gerbera daisies, colorful balloons, stuffed animals, and even a little girl’s easter hat, was: how much Clara’s sisters will miss her, and forever wonder why this happened to their family. How MJ and her husband will feel at each holiday, especially every May 7 (Clara’s birthday) aching to hug their girl, watch her blow out her birthday candles, and tease her about birthday spankings. They will never know whether she likes daffodils or daisies, what flavor of Dum Dum sucker would be her favorite, or what kind of wedding dress she would choose. Whether she would be an athlete. Or an artist. Or both.
Clearly there’s no end to this list.
One that, if today was any indication, Clara’s parents will face with great courage and dignity. And faith.
The text below is an excerpt from The Order of Service today:
“On April 12, 2011, the Lord our God called Clara Jean Trotter home to heaven after a five day struggle with a medical condition caused by an immune response to infection. Clara was the daughter of Matt and Mary Jo (nee Schultz) Trotter. Sister of Hannah, Emma, and Claudia. …Clara, born into this world on May 7, 2009, was born again as a child of God through baptism on the same day….”
Memorials may be sent to:
Medical College of Wisconsin
Department of Pediatrics – Clara Trotter Memorial Fund
8701 Watertown Plank Road
Milwaukee, WI 53226
I don’t know about you, but after this, I am truly counting my blessings. And re-thinking all those annoying moments that come from those who I delivered from my own body.
Gerbera Daisies (click for source)
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