"One Dies, Another Is Born"

The four-month-old son of Charisse Beverly, of Greensboro, North Carolina, meets his 91-year-old great-great grandmother, reported Today. (Photo by Charisse Beverly/Facebook)

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When my father died 23 years ago, I brought my three-month-old son with me from Santa Cruz, California, to his funeral.

The flight had been late. One of my brothers-in-law picked us up at John F. Kennedy International Airport. We dodged traffic. Soon, we arrived in Hempstead, Long Island, at St. Ladislaus Roman Catholic Church, where I had attended countless Masses on the first Friday of the month with my colleagues from the primary school next door. My ex-husband and I ran to the church with our baby, who was sleeping in a portable car seat.

At the bottom of the church steps, I caught my breath. One of my parents' friends said:

"One dies, and another is born."

Most of my friends' children have chosen not to become parents. I respect their choice and am grateful that they have a choice.

So, when a friend told me that she has just become a grandmother again and another said that she was about to become a grandmother for the second time, it is amazing.

At a recent lunch, I gave my son the joyful news of new life because it counterbalances the pain of the deaths of friends and family.

It is the circle of life.

These were some of my thoughts while I attended a friend's memorial service this weekend.