A Tribute to Leanna Reed Clemmons

We've known Leanna Reed Clemmons for several years, albeit online. Her humorous posts to us have always brought us joy, but we know we're not the only ones for whom Leanna has expended an extra effort to make laugh, to think, to love.

For those who don't know Leanna, she has a wonderful husband and son. We've always been amazed at the care her husband Mitch has demonstrated for Leanna, but it's nothing less than she deserves.

Leanna also has something else: Cancer. Leanna has fought breast cancer for many years. Recently it metastasized to her brain. While everyone was hoping for the best, her physicians told her earlier this month that nothing more could be done.

No one ever has an exact date for meeting that final appointment--the one that we each must keep, but it would appear that Leanna's time is near. We understand that yesterday was very difficult for her.

While there's nothing we can do to hold back the enevitable, there is one positive thing that we hope everyone will do. Leanna has a GoFundMe page set up for final expenses:

Leanna Reed Clemmons

The costs associated with the end of life today are astronomical. We hope that everyone Leanna has touched in some way will contribute to this fund.

Leanna, we love you!

*****

I am standing on the sea shore,
A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her
Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:
"She is gone."

Gone! Where?
Gone from my sight, that is all.
She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me,
not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
"She is gone",
There are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:
"There she comes"

- and that is dying. A horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further.

Bishop Brent
1862 - 1926


All of Us at Shoalanda