Yesterday there was a gathering at the Cold Spring Cemetery as we remembered and reflected upon the fact that it has been 10 years since the day that Kaitlin Anzelone graduated to Glory at the young age of 20 years old.
There is an adage that I really don’t agree with that says, “Time heals all wounds.” I think time makes the heart more aware that nothing this side of heaven will heal the big chunks missing in it as we journey on.
But Jesus said that if we believed in him as the Resurrection and the Life then one day we would all be reunited and so if there has been any encouragement with the passing of time, it’s that we are that much closer to the great reunion day.
I wrote an article 10 years ago that I want to bring back today and mostly because a living legacy continues to influence long after the last breath is taken. And as Kait once wrote, “And when they look at me and ask me why I smile, it is because I’ve learned to love the life that God has made worthwhile.”
When we all get to Heaven, what day of rejoicing that will be. It is not now but just because it is not yet doesn’t mean it is not ever.
I dedicate today’s article to the life and legacy of Kaitlin Anzelone who graduated to glory on Tuesday morning July 5, 2005. I dedicate this also to Kait’s parents, Rick and Connie, and her sisters, Jenn and Lauren.
They as a family modeled for all of us the example of positively being there so that they would have one another to lean upon. They stayed together and encouraged Kait as they endured her up and down battle with leukemia and they proved the importance of not only having a caring network but showing us that we all desperately need one.
Kait had just that in her family and her countless friends and her community of faith. I believe that Kait broke all attendance records of an individual having visitors while in the hospital. Even the parking lot attendants knew her by name. She was no ordinary girl.
The great baseball player Jackie Robinson once said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” If that statement be true, then its poster child should be Kaitlin Anzelone.
Kaitlin may not have had a ton of days in her life but Lord knows this girl lived a lot of life in her days and everyone who knew her couldn’t help but be moved by her smile, her contagious passion and sincere concern and zeal.
Kaitlin was freed up to live every moment with all of her heart because she had a real and personal faith in Jesus who assured her that even though this cancer could hammer her body, it could not steal her life and she never let it do that. Sure it put a dent in things. Who wants to be 20 years old and have leukemia?
But Kait never stopped living. She lived it up at Cooper Hospital in Camden. She moved the party to Hahnemann in Philly. And even when the cancer reared its ugliest head at Johns Hopkins in Maryland, Kait lived on. She fought that awful tumor (she actually named Tyrone) with every ounce of energy she had and she did so until the other day when Jesus finally came and said, “Kait, take my hand. Your fight is over but your life is just changing addresses, come and live forever in the place that I prepared for you to be with me.”
And every one of us who have ever had the privilege to know this young lady, while we hate to see her go, we know that our lives will never be the same because we had the privilege to experience Kaitlin Anzelone.
Kaitlin was God’s gift to us and in a world that more often than not, we allow to get way too mediocre and mundane, I don’t want to allow Kait’s impact to fade. So what can we practically do?
To start, we can decorate a door. “We can what?” I hear you ask. We can decorate a door. Wherever Kait landed, she didn’t wait for the place to bring her life, she brought her life to the place. She took hospital rooms, which for so many only conjure up pictures of doom and gloom, and gave it a whole new outlook.
She put up her own pictures. She graced the place with everything from Sponge Bob posters to photos of friends and family.
She had slogans printed of what she felt about cancer. She had reminders around her that God was holding her when she couldn’t muster the strength to hold her own. Basically put, when you walked into Kait’s room- it was Kait’s room.
Now the icing on the cake was her door. Kait’s door stood out from all the other doors because it was decorated. It was symbolic of Kait’s life and personality. No blahs and blues for this girl. Nobody was going to feel bad on her account when Kait knew they could feel better. Surrounded by sickness, Kait’s door shouted health.
Bombarded by winds of defeat blowing all around her, Kait’s door showed no hint of quitting. In the midst of a place where people die daily, Kait’s door offered life to all who entered in.
Everybody needs a “Kait’s door.” Who in your world could use a bit of door decorating today? Who needs to be reminded that they are loved, they are being prayed for, they are being fought for? Who has been shut in for so long or beat up or left hung to dry that just the simple act of door decorating would serve as a reminder that they are not forgotten or left alone? Who needs their door decorated today?
I plan on doing a lot of door decorating in the days to come not only in honor of Kaitlin’s life; but also with the vision to bring much needed hope to a room or two where it has been way too long since a breath of fresh air has blown that way.
Will you join me in looking for a door to decorate and when you find it, will you take the time to decorate it with a little love and care?
Kait’s loss cannot be explained or fully understood so I would suggest you don’t try. It makes no sense whatsoever why someone so young and full of life could be gone so quickly. But I have learned that I don’t follow God because life makes sense, I need Him because it doesn’t.
I love the Lord because when life isn’t fair, He is. He never promised to make my life easy, but He said that He would make it complete and He will keep his promise to me as He has kept it already to Kait.
Now if you have a hard time believing that, listen carefully to a conversation that Kait once had with one of her doctors.
Her doctor asked her if there was anything else that she needed. Kait suggested that he pray for her. He explained to Kait that he didn’t really believe in God so he had no God to pray to.
Kait shared, “That’s OK, Doc, you can borrow my God and pray to Him for me.” Family, if your door has no meaning or you have allowed it to become neglected and uncared for, today I beg you to borrow Kait’s God and not only invite Him to decorate your door but to bring light into your life and then live, wherever you may be and in whatever situation you may be found in, don’t wait for the place to bring you life, decide today to bring life to the place and then live each day as the precious gift that it is.
Kait, I can only imagine what your door in Heaven must look like. I can’t wait to see it.
Court House – 10% to 27% of non citizens are illegally registered to vote and it is projected that 5% to 13% of them will illegally vote in Nov – it is not legal for non-citizens to vote in elections – do you hear…
