In The Blink Of An Eye...

Brynwood Needleworks - via Shellie Gilliam "Kova"

 

About a year ago, I became FaceBook friends with Shellie. She's involved with animal rescues in the Clermont, Florida area and she'd just taken in a litter of tiny raccoons. Over the ensuing months, I watched as she shared daily photos of "the one she kept". She named him "Kova". 

 

I laughed (along with her other online friends) as she posted stories of his antics, and man, he sure kept her on her toes. Like Tag, she gave Kova a voice that endeared him to one and all. The image above was one she shared recently, saying that he was becoming a handsome, mature raccoon. 

Her most recent picture was of their outing to the beach last week. It's a photo of him playing in the surf...enjoying every second of his adventure. He and Shellie were unseparable. He slept with her, went on errands with her, and amused her every hour of the day and night. I knew little else of Shellie's life, except what I saw of her Kova posts...until yesterday.

Another friend shared a GoFundMe post about Shellie's family. On Wednesday, their family home - a 100 year old, stately two-story - burned to the ground. 

 

In addition to losing all the contents of their home, they suffered the devastating loss of one of their sons, Trevor. Trevor was a junior in high school and despite all efforts, by the time he was rescued from the blaze, it was too late to save him. Trevor's cat, "Cookie" and various other pets were also lost...and so was Kova.

When I read the words, and watched the news video, I wept. I wept for the friend I've never met in person. I've come to know her through her words, and the size of her immense heart was evident every day in the love she showed her pet raccoon. I looked at the photos of her with her sons and knew that her love knows no bounds.

As I write this post, I pray for her and her family as they come to terms with the loss of a son. May God cover them in His love and grace, carry and comfort them as they grieve. 

 

A fund has been set up for them. I'll be making a donation. Nothing will replace all they've lost, but perhaps it will help ease their burden a little. This is the link, which includes a photograph of Trevor.

 

This wasn't the post I had planned for today, but it didn't feel right for me to write about anything else. I apologize that it's not a happy post about the class I'll be teaching today. I'll be sharing more about that on Monday. 

 

Please take a moment to remember Shellie and her family today...and stop to embrace your loved ones. Life can change in the blink of an eye.