My son left our home last September to attend his freshman year of college.
Henry left our home for heaven last November.
I have been reflecting on how these "leavings" are similar...
We had a big "going away" dinner feast for my college son with our other children where we celebrated his achievement of college acceptance and moving on to the next phase of his life...
Henry's funeral Maas was truly a beautiful celebration of his new life with Jesus where he achieved the ultimate goal every mother wishes for her children...
I cannot hug or hold my older son while he is at college. But I text him or send him funny memes when I see something that makes me think of him... Sometimes he responds. Mostly he doesn't. But that is OK. I know I am thinking about him and loving him and that is what counts.
I cannot hold and hug Henry anymore. But I talk to him all the time. I think of him all the time. It's OK that he does not respond. I am loving him anyway and that's all that matters.
Having my older son in college is a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy that he is achieving his goals and becoming a man. Sadness that the little blond boy who used to sleep under my armpit is gone, and that a 6ft 4in 220+ pound artistic and sarcastic young man is now in his place :-)
Having Henry in heaven is a mixture of joy and sadness. Sadness that the little boy with the adorable "Ukranian poof" of hair is no longer sleeping under my armpit. Joy that he is no longer in pain and never has to undergo another surgery and that Jesus and Mary are loving on his healed and whole little body in my place...
It will be a while before I see my older son. He will be with us over the summer and then he will leave again. And this will happen over and over and over during his college years and once he is working and has a family.
It will be a while (50 years, God willing) before I see Henry again. But when that happens, we will never have to leave each other. Ever.
Forever.
Your posts always leaves tears in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteHad to add this...I just went back to your 2011 posts of when Henry was alive and the first thing I see is this paragraph that you wrote in your Dec 23 2001 post (I'm not positive on that date.)
ReplyDelete"For God sets the lonely in families....He does not forget the orphan....Henry is home in the arms of a loving family, where he....where EVERY CHILD....belongs."
How prophetic those words are, and how true they still are today!
I always cry when I think about your family and Henry.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry he is gone and you won't be sending him off to college one day too.
I think the word "priceless" is overused these days but when I saw the picture of you and Henry in this post and his smile, the adoration and joy in his eyes, all I could think of was "priceless." Truly. Priceless.
ReplyDeleteSue H - WI
Oh, how I appreciate this on Holy Thursday night! Hugs, my friend!
ReplyDelete