You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

The first moment we met, I knew it’d be you,

The one I would marry someday.

And the first date would prove it, the fact that I knew it,

You proposed on an interstate highway.

I was downing the last of the wine that we had,

And the proposal I have to admit

Was not real romantic, in fact I was frantic,

So much so it caused me to spit!

The stain on the ceiling brought all kinds of feelings

Each time I looked up to remember,

To be sure you weren’t kidding, I took 10 months to answer,

Before pledging together forever.

Friends asked, are you sure? Do you know he’s the one?

And my answer – it didn’t take long

There was never a doubt, because I saw in your eyes

That you’ll miss me when I was gone.

The years passed so quickly, routines got disrupted,

And families continued to grow.

But all through the years that we’ve been together,

You’ve confirmed what I always have known.

Of course nothing is perfect, our story’s not fiction

And life isn’t always a song.

But I still can see it, though your eyes are more weary,

You’ll miss me when I am gone.

The same goes for  friends and my loved ones alike,

My children especially so

We may not have said it, each time that we should have,

But love need not be spoken, but shown

The knowledge is there, when I look in their eyes,

Their thoughts are the same as my own.

I know that they love me; I know I’m not wrong,

Because they’ll miss me when I am gone.

Our days here are numbered, and fate sometimes enters

At the most inopportune time.

No need to regret the things left unsaid,

Or the wishes you thought had been mine.

Remember the love and the laughter instead,

Hear me whisper to you every dawn;

“I always have loved you, and always felt loved,

And I’ll miss you all when I’m gone.

Sleeping Giant

                                                

I sit and watch the sunlight dancing on the water, skipping over the tiny ripples made by the warm summer breeze.  Marveling at the beauty of my surroundings, I can not fathom how someone can see what I see, and still doubt the existence of an Almighty Creator.

The intricacies and the complexities of living things are beyond just happenstance.

As we move through our life, we gather what we cherish, holding it close to our heart trying to keep it safe so it will last forever.  Perhaps we acquire too much to hold, or maybe we give too much importance to some of our choices.  Things should not be coveted, but rather appreciated while they last and let go as part of the constantly changing cycles that are meant to occur in nature.  This concept is often the most difficult, to give up something we love, or to let someone we love go.  And so we move silently, desperately holding onto what we hold most dear, knowing full well that nothing is permanent.

 When we were young we’d return home, arms loaded with packages, shoes clutched at the end of our fingertips and tiptoe through the house sneaking past our parents’ room, hoping they won’t hear that you’ve returned after curfew.   Sometimes we try to carry too much and a shoe slips from our grasp and falls silently, tumbling in slow motion through the airspace until it lands with a loud thud on the floor.  We freeze instantly, afraid to breathe, straining to hear a change in the rhythmic breathing coming from behind the door, praying the other shoe won’t follow the first as we move achingly slow down the hall to the safety of our own room

  It is with great reverence that I tiptoe through my daily life knowing that at any time everything could change.  I have been blessed with so much, and sometimes I fear I have accepted and held onto too much; not wanting to lose any of the wonderful things I have been given or attained.  I hold my breath as I move through life trying to create as little disturbance as I can so as not to draw attention to humanity’s Sleeping Giant.  I pray quietly to our Father who blesses us and loves us unconditionally; so much that he allows us this time here to stop and gather what we love, and appreciate what he has given to us. 

We often drop our shoe along the way and like a most forgiving parent, gives us a pass to continue to our room, often without comment.  But in the end, in prayer to our Father who art in heaven, we also say Thy will be done…and we must acknowledge that this is often the unknown curfew that is set, and sooner or later we will have gathered all that we could carry and the other shoe will drop from our grasp and we will be called to our Parent’s room, never to return to the room at the end of the hall.  We approach that door with fear and regret, but it is not because of fear of our Father who is calling us home.  It is because we must leave what we have loved most; to proceed to the second stage of our life.  It is the ones we leave behind that experience the hurt and pain of our departure.  We can only hope that those, whom we held close, will celebrate our life, because we have fulfilled our purpose, and will pick up what was important and carry our memory with them until they are given a curfew of their own.