What started out as a post or two about my feelings concerning my young neighbor, Alex, ended up being a personal journey that took me through a plethora of emotions as Alex prepared for her death.

 As I mentioned in my very first post here on OpenSalon, when we lose a loved one through death, we lose a part of ourself ....a small part of ourself also dies.....and in some cases, a big part of ourself dies. The irony is that even though a part of me died when Alex died on July 11, her death also brought a growth within me. Because I didn't shy away from her or try to forget that she was around the block dying and was able to visit with her three times (four times including when I brought her homemade chocolate chip cookies shortly after she started her treatments), I learned to face death more courageously.

Since I did write quite a few posts about Alex, I decided to end the "series" with a piece of music that I personally find  uplifting and breathtakingly beautiful .

So below is Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 or  also known as the "Resurrection."  This piece  and this post is for Alex and for anyone else who has died or who has lost a loved one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKeH3oYkFiw

Believe, my heart, you have lost nothing. Everything you longed for is yours; yes, yours.

You were not born in vain.

You have not lived and suffered in vain. What has been must go.

What has gone will rise again. Stop trembling. Get ready to live. O Pain, all penetrating one, I have escaped you.

O Death, all conquering one, now you are conquered.

With wings I have won for myself, in fervent love I shall soar to the Light unseen.

I shall die to live. You will rise again, my heart, in a moment, and be borne up, through struggle, to God!

(words added by Mahler)