My wife and I returned to South Texas in our RV to visit relatives and to visit the gravesites of her mother, father, and brother. Though time has passed, the emotions and sentiments expressed are as strongly alive in us today as then.
Missing you
What does ‘missing you’ mean? My wife would say it means not being able to make the call to her Mother when she has a concern. Or when she wants to brag on one of her seven grandchildren. Or being able to take a vacation and sit together talking about the cares and joys of life. They talked almost daily for the last 30 years. Daily life will never be the same for her since her mother passed Feb 2016.
My wife would say it is not being able to go fishing with her brother. Or sit with him talking cars, guns, grandchildren, work, people they knew or hundreds of shared experiences growing up. He passed April 2016, about 10 weeks after her mother.
At the cemetery
I sat with her today at the cemetery. We sat on a bench monument at the head of her brother’s grave. We overlooked her mother’s grave to the headstone for her parent’s. We shared stories, but mostly I listened. When she cried, I tried to comfort her. I found myself tearing up.
The time came to leave. We stood, said goodbye to her brother and approached the parent’s headstone. My wife leaned over and rubbed the picture of her mother engraved there. “Happy birthday, Mom.”
It is cliché to say “They will never be gone as long as we hold them in our hearts.” The cliché is supposed to make us feel better. But it is a poor replacement for seeing the smile, hearing the laugh, or holding the loved one. It can only soothe the hurt in ‘missing you.”
Me, it has been twenty years since my mother passed. I lost two brothers and my father between October 2002 and October 2003. My sister passed in 2011. Some days, when I am experiencing a success, I find myself reaching for the phone to share it with my mother. To this day, ‘missing you’ touches me.
May they all rest in peace knowing we are “missing you.”
Are you missing someone? Use the comment form to tell me about them.
Thanks so much for sharing. So sorry for your losses. We never get over them, we do learn to move on though. My father died unexpectedly when I was 12 and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.
I appreciate the kind thoughts. My sympathies on the loss of your father. I do genealogy and working the tree reminds me how I am the last of my family’s this generation. Siblings and parents gone and only one uncle living. Fortunately, there are many cousins, nephews, and nieces to share memories.
My wife has one sister and she is much younger. God willing, her sister will live long.
Maria,
This may be a second reply. I am sorry to hear about the loss of your father at such an early age. I am the last of my family and miss them dearly. However, I know this is the way of life. One day, my children will only have memories of me. I try to make them good while I am here. That is all I can do.
God bless.
I was only 27 when I lost my mom. My son never got to know her. He was only one. Then, last year, 2017, my only niece died on her 30th birthday. I don’t have any nephews so this was a very hard reality. I know they are in heaven and that I will see them again. Grief made me stronger and I don’t fear when it’s my time. http://www.refugeingrief.com/2018/07/19/help-a-friend-video/
Natalie,
I am sorry for your losses. I, also, look forward to being reunited with those gone before. How long that may be?
God bless and keep you.