Live Like No Tomorrow

If I should go tomorrow. It would never be goodbye, For I have left my heart with you, So don't you ever cry. The love that's deep within me, Shall reach you from the stars, You'll feel it from the heavens, And it will heal the scars

Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Miss me, but let me go

When I come to the end of the road

And the sun has set for me

I want no rites in a gloom filled room

Why cry for a soul set free

Miss me a little - but not too long

And not with your head bowed low

Remember the love that we once shared

Miss me - but let me go

For this is a journey that we must all take

And each must go alone It's all a part of the Master's plan a step on the road to home

I've taken the journey we all must take
Please take comfort and know
I’m now reunited with God
So miss me a little while
and then please let me go

I'm Still Here

Friend, please don't mourn for me
I'm still here, though you don't see.
I'm right by your side each night and day
And within your heart I long to stay.

My body is gone but I'm always near.
I'm everything you feel, see or hear.
My spirit is free, but I'll never depart
As long as you keep me alive in your heart.

I'll never wander out of your sight-
I'm the brightest star on a summer night.
I'll never be beyond your reach-
I'm the warm moist sand when you're at the beach.

I'm the colourful leaves when Autumn's around
And the pure white snow that blankets the ground.
I'm the beautiful flowers of which you're so fond,
The clear cool water in a quiet pond.

I'm the first bright blossom you'll see in the spring,
The first warm raindrop that April will bring.
I'm the first ray of light when the sun starts to shine,
And you'll see that the face in the moon is mine.

When you start thinking there's no one to love you,
You can talk to me through the Lord above you.
I'll whisper my answer through the leaves on the trees,
And you'll feel my presence in the soft summer breeze.

I'm the hot salty tears that flow when you weep
And the beautiful dreams that come while you sleep.
I'm the smile you see on a baby's face.
Just look for me, friend, I'm every place!

Author Unknown

If you were to die tomorrow, how would you have lived your life?

Time has taken me from you, Although not very far. I'll be watching through the sunshine And through the brightest star. I'll be watching all of you, From the heavens up above. So take good care of each other And carry all my love.

If you're ever wondering If I'm there, here's where you can start, Take a look inside yourself. Deep within your heart .I'll always be the piece you thought you loss ,So anytime you need me, Close your eyes and you will feel I am always with you even though you can’t see, I will be Smiling and Laughing with you like it use to be. This is what I want for each of you , my life will live on through each one of you! Make each day count and remember your are all unique in your own way. This is what life is about. Being the person you are and do it the best way you know how.

Love, Live and Laugh Alot!

I am Gone
You can shed tears that I am gone
or you can smile because I have lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that I'll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all I’ve left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see me
or you can be full of the love we shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember me and only that I’m gone
or you can cherish my memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
or you can do what I would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

My Infinite Love

When you see a shooting star in the night
When you hear the warm wind whisper through the pines
I want you to know

It’ll be me and my infinite love for you
It’s just like I promised you under heaven above
It will live on long after we kiss goodbye
Forever by your side
My infinite love

When you think someone is callin’ out your name
When you feel that kind of feelin’ you can’t explain
Now you will know

It’ll be me and my infinite love for you
It’s just like I promised you under heaven above
It will live on long after we kiss goodbye
Forever by your side
My infinite love

I want you to know
It’ll be me and my infinite love for you
It’s just like I promised you under heaven above
It will live on long after we kiss goodbye
Forever by your side
My infinite love
My infinite love
My infinite love

I thought of you with love today but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday and days before that too, I think of you in silence I often speak your name. All I have are memories and your picture in a frame. Your memory is my keepsake with which I’ll never part. God has you in His keeping I have you in my heart.

We’ve shared our lives these many years. You’ve held my hand; you’ve held my heart. So many blessings, so few tears Yet for a moment, we must part. The memories you’ve given me Are times I’ve shared with my best friend I’ll hold them, Love. Right here they’ll be. Until we share our lives again.

Love Has Found a Home

by Pat O'Donnell

Livonia, MI Chapter

Perhaps

Love has found a home and it rests with us. Most of the time we can answer the Who, when, how, what and where in regards to our child and their death. The 'Who' is your child and their name, age, gender and the unique qualities that make them so very special. The 'who' is the splendid Soul that is there while we are here.

The 'How, What, When and Where' is found in the particulars of the circumstance that have seized your child. Whether their life ends by illness or accident, suicide, murder or miscarriage, or any other manner the circumstances are not identical but they are the same separation. They are the unique fingerprints of finality. All of us have fingerprints none of us have the same ones. Bereaved parents own the saddest of realities for now and forever. Separation and finality team up to devour your life and make you cry in the oddest of places, at the strangest of times. You know why even if the world is mystified.

At first it is impossible to have thoughts of death and our child together in any conceivable fashion. It makes no sense to the new Moms and Dads who have been drafted into the army of the bereaved parent. It makes no sense to veterans. Perhaps angry or questioning logic fades as Love takes hold and lights our world. Would it be better to not hurt at all but not have had a child? There are some parents in this world that do not suffer since their son or daughter died because they only know of the word love and not it's meaning, form without substance. You hurt so much because you Love so much. You are crazy with grief because you are crazy with Love. The determined desire to go beyond simple survival, to travel beyond deaths details, holds great power over death and depression. The bad news is, it isn't easy. The good news is, it can, and has been done.

It is the 'Why' that remains elusive. The 'Why' that escapes practical evaluation resulting in concrete conclusions. The 'why' that is sought for answers. The' why' that is often concealed in confusion that pretends to hide a nonexistent solution. What answer? How can there be an answer to why Him? Her? Me? Us? Normal thinking does not work. The way we use to do things does not work. Logic has been stripped from our evaluation process. We are lost since there are no answers to 'why' this happened. "It" happens to others. Why have we lost our immunity? Is it our fault? Could we have taken some other course of action? Inaction? Should we have made different plans? Thoughts float in and out of our mind taunting our Souls with unanswerable questions.

At some fork in the grief trail we travel we can let go of the 'why' issue. There is no drum roll to announce the arrival of Hope. Nor are there triumphant trumpets signaling the departure of the tortuous unanswerable 'why'. The saddest and most frustrating of questions is allowed to disintegrate and be replaced by a fuzzy, vague presence of Hope. Our awareness ability has detected its presence. One morning you wake and a whole minute goes by before you remember. Hope is not the shallow, cheery optimism that the bereaved wear for worldly consumption. It is the deepest and most glorious of productive inspirations that the Hope of eternity and reunion can bring. It is the Hope that all is not lost. It isn't easy to see through curtains of tears so often pulled tightly shut by overwhelming sadness. Hope can open those eyes to observe the scene where Love exposes finality as an illusion. Hope and Love can make eternal death disappear. There will still be hurt, it will still be intense, it will not fill every waking moment as time changes from enemy to ally. Our Love for the child that is not here the way we want will always be with us and eventually replace all else. Our children fill our lives through others that are still here. They do it every day. We just have to keep looking for the place that Love calls home.

To read more of Pat's Essays

http://tcflivonia.org/patsessays/pat.htm

Dustin Marshall Rawls
September 2, 1982 - September 27, 2007
Dustin Lives on Through All The Many People

that had the honor to know him!
I love you my Son!
God Blessed Me So giving you as MY SON!
"When someone you love becomes a memory,
that memory becomes a treasure!"

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.