15 Years...

Written August 17, 2013...

Today, my Mom has been gone from this earth for 15 years.

I miss her.

And I know I've written about it before, but I just wanted to acknowledge this day for my kids...if they read this one day. And to reassure them that God does indeed have a plan...He has all of our days numbered; that this world is not our home; that life does and MUST go on. And for us to be joyful and productive all the days of our lives. My Mom was. I believed she fulfilled the plan God had for her life and then she was done...and He brought her home.

Still...

I miss her every day.

A wise and dear woman told me yesterday that you never get over missing your Mom. No matter how old you are...no matter how long they've been gone. She recounted a story of her own mother, who...just days before SHE died...asked for pen and paper to write a letter to her mother, who had been dead for over 40 years at this point. My friend said that over and over in the letter, her mom wrote, "I love you, Mama, and I miss you so much."

Over and over.

My friend still has the letter.

Is that not the sweetest and saddest thing you've ever heard?

My friend told me the story to encourage me...and it did. She said that my feelings are completely "normal," whatever that is.

15 years. She's missed a lot in 15 years.

Correction: We've missed her presence a lot during the past 15 years. She's in Heaven with no thoughts of this world. That's how I believe, anyway. The Bible says there's "no tears, no death, no sorrow, no pain," in Heaven (Revelation 21:4), so I have to believe that she's not "looking down on me and smiling," as some like to say. Because once you've seen the face of Jesus...and experienced Heaven in all of it's majesty and glory...and been reunited with family and friends who have gone before you...what is earth to you?

I miss you, Mom. See you soon...

"Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere..." Psalm 84:10