Emma

We laid our dear mother to rest today. It was a solemn occasion, but a celebration, all the same... a celebration of a remarkable life well-lived - a fulfilled loving 92 years lived in profound wisdom, humility, and grace. I should be stunned with grief, my eyes filled with tears, but I'm not. While it has taken the wind out of my sails for the time being, I sense a re-ignition within and a renewed commitment to live more in tune with her example.

I owe everything to my loving parents. It is they who fired the light behind my eyes. It is they who inspired me to act and be the best that I can be. It is they who taught me how to love and tell those around me that I love them. It is they who showed me by their example just how much difference one person can make in the lives of those around them. It is a great responsibility to carry forward and share the lessons they passed along to me. I do it with honor, out of love for the best parents any person could ever hope to have.

I shall miss sharing stories with her, for no one gave me more rapt attention than she. She was my biggest fan and always a cheerleader waiting with an expectant smile on the sidelines, waving those pom-poms, saying “go, Larry, go... just be careful... you are always in my prayers”, then rejoicing in my glory.

In many ways, mom never grew out of her childhood. The little girl in her was always very much alive and vibrant, and I must admit that I never really looked upon her as being old. I am fortunate to have inherited that characteristic, keeping the little kid me front and center in life. Play and a healthy appreciation for the lighter side of life guide me in all that I do. Thanks for that, mom.

We shared a great passion for simple things like picking berries and climbing wild apple trees to enjoy their fruit. She loved to run up and down the hills around her home and climb trees as a kid; as her body declined she continued just the same, if only in her mind. We also shared a passion for mountains and broad vistas from high places. Whether it was sitting on the hill above our home imagining what animals the cloud shapes looked like, watching quietly as the sun performed a light show at the end of the day, or marveling at the majesty of the high peaks of the Rockies or Smokies, she could get lost in a breathless view and fly high above it all in her mind. I, too, am happiest when I find myself with a far-reaching view from a world of nothing but rocks and sky.

She will always be with me, for no one really dies. We just change perspective, shifting from one vibration to the one higher. She'll always be here because here is all there is. All I need to do is just think of her and I know I'll have her complete attention from that timeless world from which she now looks down upon us all with loving eyes which she can now see with from here to eternity.

It is all good. Everything is as it should be. The cycle of love ever expands and pulls us all inevitably toward that reunion with the One. I am at peace because I know mom is too.