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25 windows
In the place
Where you flew away
25 windows
On the front of the house
Of your last stay
25 windows
You can see through
Each to a memory
25 memories and more wait at the door
And flowers growing near
Teach us lessons
About beginnings and endings
When a beautiful person flew away
Till we meet her again someday
She was a person
Who exploded upon the world around
Like beautiful flowers
With color and beauty and excitement
I can see her running
Through the house with 25 windows
Trying to look through each one
To the whole world
Excited about life
With all the colors
Radiant like flowers in full sun
In the garden of her dreams
Where ideas and inspiration
Flowed like water
In the garden of her thoughts
That were too numerous to see them all
Too complex to understand fully
Taking the world by surprise
And giving to us over and over
That which we don’t fully understand
But love always
25 windows
Are on the front of the house
Where she died
And the trees in the front yard
Still reach to the sun
The grass still grows under skies of blue
And puffy white clouds
That form new shapes every moment
Still reach out to you
When you sit and watch
The house with 25 windows…
Thoughts of this house can bring pain
Where we lost such a treasure
But 25 windows are still there
And the ones she looked through
Can make us aware
Of all the memories
And things we treasure
Things we should look for
To heal our broken hearts…
Can you see through the windows with me?
Can you see the memories I see?
I see a little girl –
With bright red cheeks
And her mom saying,
“Wash both your face and hands – they’re a mess.”
And then she tries to hold a wet bar of soap
In the sink
But it flies everywhere and lands on the floor…
I can see small hands holding a camera upside down
Taking pictures of those around her
Petting a cat and picking it up
And squeezing till it can hardly breath
Playing with dolls in the yard
In the summer sun and talking to them
As though they were alive
Bossing them around
Putting her hands on the patio door
Leaving hand prints on the glass
From everything she touched
Bare feet in the grass
In the pool
Walking, running, jumping
Trying to stay cool in the sun
Growing up with friends
Next to miles and miles of corn and wheat
And parades in the street
Strings from Pom-poms
Lying on the ground
From being shaken at the sound
Of victories at sporting events
Drawing pictures from parades of ideas
That flowed through her mind
Too excited and joyful
And exuberant to always know the danger
Of dabbling in things that have power
Over your mind and body
Leaning over the cliffs
Of feeling invulnerable to destruction
And feeling immune from sudden death
Laughing
And not knowing evil
Can touch “Even me.”
Even “I” can be hurt
Even “I” will fly away
Someday – but “not now.”
And in the midst of sudden destruction
Are 25 windows
Through which we can see memories
Of the good –-
Memories that can carry and encourage those left behind...
And in the midst of sudden sorrow
Are 25 windows
And flowers
That grow to remind us
That life is short
But beautiful
And flowers grow
And bloom
And are blown away
In the wind…
And with 25 windows are way more than 25 memories and flowers
And these words from Isaiah 25:
“He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.’”
Isaiah 25:8-9
There are 25 windows in the front of the Sigma Pi house where Samantha Spady died. It is a beautiful house that can bring peace if you think about God’s promise from Isaiah 25 and if you remember that Samantha looked out those windows while she was alive. As I sat in front of the house one summer day I tried to imagine what Samantha would have seen looking out the windows (being a deep thinker and a tremendous artist). Some people would have seen only the street and people walking by, but what did she see as she viewed the world from behind those windows?
Each window I imagined to be a portal through which I could see memories from her life, and I tried to think of the good things that she did while she was here. Each window was a portal through time that allowed me to see her as a little girl, beloved by her parents and family.
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