A Thousand Years

Last Tuesday morning, our family lost a child. Not lost as in we went to the mall and got separated and we couldn't find her. As horrifying as that would have been, the loss we experience is more permanent. Lorna-Lauren Faasili passed away at the age of 9 after a fatal asthma attack. She left behind her devoted mother, Tu'i, and beautiful twin sister, Hellena.

I remember getting the text from my sister. "Did you hear? :(". In my mind I guessed that someone had gained weight, or broken up with someone, or something had gotten lost/stolen. Things that at the time I thought were significant and warranted a sad face. Never did I guess what followed. "Lorna's passed away."

Life has since been a surreal experience. It's been a week now but it still feels like it was all a bad dream, and that soon we will wake up to normality, where we still referred to "Hellena and Lorna" as a pair. Where Tu'i had two girls to keep her up at night to scratch their itchy eczema.

What is now deemed "important" has changed so dramatically. I don't watch the news, and have stopped stalking people on Facebook. I feel like screaming, "How can you carry on? What does that matter?". How can such a tiny girl leave such a gaping hole? I don't know. But I am reminded, in a most poignant way, that life is precious and fleeting. We are not long here, our time is but a breath, so we better breathe it. Ironically, Lorna passed away due to asthma, yet in her short time here she sure did breathe. She lived her life completely.

So as we continue to mourn her, and as the wound of her departure continues to heal, I try to remind myself to use every minute I have to live and to love.

"I'll love you for a thousand years. Love you Lorn-baggz" - Hellena