The reality is that you will grieve forever.  You will not get over the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it.  You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered.  You will be whole again, but you will never be the same again. Nor should you be the same…….nor should you want to.  -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

As long as I can dream…..As long as I can think…..As long as I have memory…..I will love you.  As long as I have eyes to see and ears to hear and lips to speak…..I will love you.  As long as there is time…..As long as there is love…..As long as there is you…..I will love you.

This quote was found on a card that I had sent to Crick while he was on deployment in Kosovo in 2004.  A few years later, I accidentally discovered it tucked away in his dresser drawer.  Thank you Crick for saving it.  Notes such as these continue to bring me comfort in the knowledge that, while I was not always the outwardly affectionate, lovey-dovey, huggy person he often wished I could be, nor was he one to be completely at ease  expressing his innermost feelings, we were both able to use the written word as another way to convey the love that we shared.

As today is the Feast of All Souls, a holy day Catholics set aside for honoring the dead, I would like to share a Scripture passage from St. Paul which he wrote during his period of arrest before his execution, from which I always draw comfort:

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8

TNT………….TGW