PEACE

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Lunchlady 2

Lunchlady 2
Birthday
March 05
Bio
I have been here, oh my, 2 or 3 years and in that time I have seen my youngest daughter wed and have my first beautiful granddaughter. I have seen a son join the Navy and fly away and I have buried my oldest son. This makes two sons I have lost and right now the world seems unfair and harsh but someday I will smile again and remember the good times more than the bad. Did I mention the alcoholic husband who has been in the hospital three times near death...it makes me wonder much about why some live, yet don't, and some die who are just starting to live. Out of 6 children I still have 4 and they are the light of my life....

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DECEMBER 14, 2011 8:53AM

There is that smile again

Rate: 31 Flag

 Every morning I wake up take the dog out, feed the 5 cats their one can of cat food they split, each waiting at his designated spot for his share, and then I get in the shower and my son’s last days fill my head and I cry.

Just like clockwork, every morning work or weekend I stand there with the water beating down on me and I miss my son with every ounce of my being. 

Then I take my shower, get dressed, give the outside dogs a biscuit each and cry the short while to work thinking about how I need to write more about how I am feeling. 

Once at work alone for the first hour, at the least, I cry as I push everything out in the gym, start breakfast, sit here at my computer and plan the day. Then folks start to arrive and children come to school and I get my daily hug from one of my son’s best friends from kindergarten through high schools daughter as her mom has asked her, a 6th grader, to do so and she does willingly... 

I robotic my way through my day, smile when I should, say all the right answers ( okay maybe not always right) and I take another step closer to letting the hurt losing my son has burned in my heart go free, so that, in time, I will look back and remember the good, the happy, his youth. 

For now I am designing his gravestone, since I have been left with $10,000 debt on a credit card I used to bail him out each and every time he was in trouble (he was in trouble a lot until he found true love) they were paying on it but now it is mine, by choice, to handle alone. 

 My family will be paying for this and I have not once asked how much guessing my family won’t mind splitting the cost for their brother, for their nephew, for my Joe.  I hope I am not wrong that I am not assuming too much…how much could a double bevel two person stone w/ picture cost? 

My son would have turned 40 this coming Jan 15, just writing that made me cry and sigh deeply, my hope is once the stone is set and the birthday is past my true smile can return again and maybe instead of crying all morning it will widdle down until I cry less at each place, then not at some places and then maybe, just maybe I will get through an entire day without a tear. 

Just a smile remembering the man my Joey was….

 

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My O my. Smiles will come freely.

Maybe great sadness precedes a smile.

If we have never been disgusted we shallow.
`
I hate to witness
people arguing over
the price of a bouquet
`
I read that we humans are:
One human race `Bouquet.
Some flowers decay so fast.
`
There is an invisible chord.
The chord binds us as`One.
It's one teaching ref:,`Grief.
`
Grieve well. Smile comes.
You will benefit humanity.
It's sorta a alabaster box.
`
In time, at he right time
as like a ripe fruit served
on the silver dish platter
`
It's ripeness at a moment
Grieving isn't enjoyable
To feel Joy is to smile
`
We silly folk feel unworthy.
It's a grand earthen mystery.
I can't explain. Experience it.
`
humus
humility
hummus
`
It's a sense
of earthen
it's wonder
I not much of a hugger, Terri, but this one's for you: [[[[[[[[HUG]]]]]]]]
Sometimes I run completely out of words to say.
This is one of them dear.
But know you are doing the right thing as you type out these words.
You help many with them to understand.
I send best wishes for the tear-free day to come.
And the healing to be complete.
and a real smile for ya. But I still wait...
It does help to write it out instead of holding it tight inside. I have no fear my family will help pay for whatever the headstone cost as we have never been that family that fights over "stuff" we are the family that enjoys life more than things. Thank you all for taking this journey with me and for your kind, so very kind, words.
Peace my friend.
As that word came to me I looked up to see a dove on the deck drinking the rain. A sign? Stay open, feel what you need to feel and do what you do best-keep on keeping on.
xoxo
i know there is nothing to say that makes it better, but know that we care about you.
It's good that you can smile when yoiu remember Joey, even with all the tears. I'm glad you're getting help paying for his gravestone. More prayers for you and yours, from me and Lady Lucia!
We're all here for you, and caring.
At least you can cry. So many of us can't and the grief erupts in other ways. (Think shingles. Really itchy and painful.) I'm sure the stone is going to be beautiful since it is being designed by a mother's love.
When we lose people who are dear to us we often spend much time grieving the loss, to the point of excluding the good times that made us love them in the first place. It was years before I could think of my Dad without getting sad over the things that had gone wrong between us and the horrors of the illness that killed him. Likewise my brother who died about three years ago. Giving in to sadness is so easy. That just makes things get worse. You will grieve over this loss for a long, long time. Accept that and try to remember that going on with life is the best tribute you can give a person who has left to soon. I hate to hear that you spend so much time encapsulated in grief that you are unable to function in your life. Going through the motions only makes things worse. I don't doubt that you are doing your best here, only that you must eventually accept what has happened and try to live again. I can't begin to imagine the pain of losing a child. I do doubt that he would want this kind of torment for you. It isn't your fault and you are not to blame. I wish you peace.
A beautiful piece, LL. Hugs and more hugs.
Oh my, may a wish of goodness bless your soul and year..
Losing a child had got to be the worst thing that can happen. I can't imagine the pain. BIGS HUGS to you!!! I lost a special nephew a couple of years ago, and remembering the good time does help. I can now look at pictures of him and smile instead of crying.
What a wonderful gift, the hug of your son's friend's daughter. I am glad you still have your work to lose yourself in, and a routine to take you up in body, so that you can still go on without having to learn too many new steps. The heart will grieve, but it will eventually grow lighter and turn that to remembrance.
It is the triggers that get me. One thing will remind me of another and then out of the blue I find myself crying. Thank you so much for sharing all you are going through. It helps us all.
Only time can heal you....and prayers. Good luck getting help with that terrible debt. I hope you aren't stuck with it, but I can't imagine anyone volunteering to help. Most people are strapped.
Terri, I may be one of the few who think tears are both useful and necessary. With the tears also flow all the pent up grief, anger, fear, love, and every other emotion with which we come equipped. There is a reason we all feel better after a good cry. Remember: there is no statute of limitation on grief. In your own time, in your own way.

Lezlie
you know where you want to go... you'll get there. love and healing thoughts flowing your way

Sharon
Great piece. One of the weirdest things about grief is the way practicality intrudes on it. When my father passed away in 2008, it took the funeral parlor to remind us all we needed to write an obituary. I hope things come together to allow you to get the gravestone you want for your son LL. Time doesn't make everything better...funny but I was standing in the shower on Monday and remembered it was my mom's birthday...she died in 1991 when I was 15. I actually didn't cry, but smiled at the thought that I didn't cry and for the first time didn't actively remember that day was coming and dread it. It snuck up on me, and I smiled. Here's hoping that time helps to heal you too, and that these holidays bring you some happiness along with the sad. My dog Mattie sends you yellow lab kisses:-) Rated
Terri, my heart just breaks for you. Please stay strong and true. I hope those around you are nourishing your soul and helping you as you negotiate this difficult journey. Along with everyone else, I send you light, love and a big hug.
You are very strong. You are going through this horrible grief so sanely. I hate that you have to go through it at all, but I am thankful you are staying so clearly sane.
I see you in this day you write about, going though the motions. standing under the beating rain of the shower, mixing with tears. who knows what to write you, what to say, but i offer you that i am there watching and pulling for you LL2 as always. tears of mine mixing with yours, and the damn shower too.
Reading you, hearing you, thinking about you.
Read you this morning.

Peace.

R
keep writing it out - we are all here with open hearts and eyes and ears. I wish I could turn back the clock and undo this horrible loss; I am also confident that of all people, YOU will continue to mark his life with your beautiful words and wisdom. You are so strong - let us hold you a bit when that strength falters.
I think one day, when you think of him, you will be able to smile and remember the good things, and that he made himself a real man that you were proud to call your son. I hope it get's better soon.
Oh..tears ...I am hoping with all my heart that your smile may return...
Thank you all for helping me get through today, some days are easy and others are so hard. The triggers oh yes I agree I drove by yesterday where my son and his finance first lived and just burst in to tears...It takes such small rememberings to make one sad...
I love everyone of you for your incredible support, you are my anchor to the real world and I thank you.
Maybe this will give you a smile.

At my mom's wake, my dad, a little addled by dementia,
having gained ALOT of weight lately,
certainly could not wear his usual sweat pants.
So we bought him some nice dress pants.
But...we forgot to get him a belt.

Dad made it through the 2 hrs of shaking hands
and standing around and etc,
but
at the very end, he stood up a little too fast
and his pants fell to the floor.

Mother, lying in her casket, looking lovely,
was hopefully in heaven by then,
and past being mortified by
old Dad's shenanigans.

Next day, day of the funeral, me & Sis went out to Walmart
at 6 am & got him a belt.
And more hugs. Understanding your grief.
Keep writing. You do it so well and your readers respond to your words with such love and care.

It will get less painful as the rawness decreases and your good memories surface. Of course you wll think of him every day ut in time the smiles of happier times will help.
James your story about your dad did indeed make me smile :)
Thank you so much for sharing it... and thank you all for your kindness.