Memories of my years at Wedgwood Baptist Church, taken from my journal (maybe slightly edited)😉

Wedgwood singles fall retreat 1990

I first met David Mikkelson at Como Elementary at a welcome-back-to-school luncheon. He stood behind me in line, I introduced myself, and we ate at the same table. As we ate, I found out he was a seminary student as well as a teacher. His girlfriend came later to help him set up his room. Later that week, Susan and I visited Wedgwood BC. I sat next to Becca Lechner, since I’d met her at Charlie and Angie’s wedding, and she introduced me to a girl next to her- it was Amy, David’s girlfriend, and David was there, too. I joined the church a few weeks later, and David and I became friends at church and school. Oh, he was such a character! We used to sit in faculty meetings together and whisper and snicker. We used to stand in the copy room and I’d gripe about my kids and he’d hug me and say something to make me lighten up. 

He had to quit after a couple of months because the cancer he had had in his leg came back in his lungs and he couldn’t keep up; the work was too hard. He went downhill pretty fast. I remember at the fall retreat he was in the hospital at Houston for treatment, and we made him a big banner. Amy came to the retreat late, crying. I didn’t know what to say. They went to Houston a lot after that. I remember at the New Year’s Eve party David was on a team against me playing Win, Lose, or Draw, and we started having an eraser war (getting chalk dust on each other’s pants.) Anyway, later that night I got Tommy Anderson to get David back for me, and they goofed around and fell on the floor, wrestling and laughing so hard. We all laughed so hard. 

But David got worse. He got so thin, and raspy, you could hear him breathing. He would ask for prayer in Sunday School, but I only remember one time seeing him look down or worried. I remember him with a smile on his face. My most vivid memory is when we went to the Osiek’s for Prayer and Share after church one night- a special one, just for David. He sat in a chair in the middle of their living room, and we all put our hands on him and on each other, and took turns praying for him—his healing, his comfort, his peace of mind. We cried, we were strong, we were scared—we turned to the Father. We gave it all to Him. 

I never saw David again. He went to Houston. Amy went with him. He held on long enough to see his little sister. Amy was with him when he died. Earl told me. It was the day before Valentine’s Day. And I praised God. I did. I thanked Him for saving David from his pain—for stopping the pain. I cried for me, for Amy, and for David’s family, and for death itself. Incomprehensible, strange, vicious, fearful death. But even though I don’t understand David’s short life and painful death...he’s so brilliantly happy now...at rest...healthy...with his 
Savior. Smiling!