Living and Dying – Love and Hope

There was a collective catch of our breath
Last evening
Even before the call came.
We felt it in our spirit –
A knowing that you had moved
from this life into the next.
A last breath on your end
as you moved into eternity
reunited with all of ours who went on before
and a first breath on our end
into the reality
that you had moved on.

The end of a lifetime
wrapped in the hope of eternity.

So privileged to have held your hand just last week as,
even in those last days,
you passed on words of love, encouragement
and wisdom for my remaining days.

Our grief is balanced
by the joy in Heaven of your homecoming
and the joy of being reunited with our loved ones.
Even now I believe you are sitting around a beautiful kitchen table
beating someone at crib
or working on the most magnificent jigsaw puzzle
you have ever seen
or telling wonderful stories to all the rest.

You are gone but never forgotten
Living on in the love and wisdom
you passed on to each one.

In the days ahead I will
find comfort in the memory of those beautiful eyes
that gazed at me with such a pure love
just last week as we said our final goodbyes.
And those giant but gentle hands that held me close and wiped
away my tears.

Rest easy my dearest Papa.
I couldn’t be happier with the moments, days and years
we had together.