Death is Nothing ~ ~ ~

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.... ... ...
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.... ... ...
Play, smile, think of me.
Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.... ... ...
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you.... ... ...

For an interval.
Somewhere.
Very near.
Just around the corner.
All is well.

Andy Wilson, "Guardian of Forgotton Souls"

In the last three years,  3 friends have passed over to the "other room", people I never met face to face physically.  We talked on the phone, or on skype, or chatted through emails.  What I find interesting is how close people can become when the "history" of one's life is not the premise of getting to know or growing a friendship.   We plant fresh seeds in the garden each spring and faithfully tend seedlings, nurture the young vines and eventually sow the harvest of our labours.  So ... why do we expect that our family members could just be "friends" ? , forget the mistakes we made 5, 10, 20 years ago.  We are supposed to learn from those judgement missteps.  Considering that we do, and we make ourselves better than we were or evolve ourselves into someone with a more kind and compassionate direction, can we not be a new garden ?   Sometimes the history of our relationships gets in the way of forgiving and moving on.   There are the lucky ones, those who fall in love and grow up With their beloved ~ that loss is far different I think.  I do wonder.  I have experienced a handful of losses in my lifetime that still ache within and when some sensory trigger occurs and that loss becomes very Present, the tears still come.  Age is a blessing here, because time does heal.  More slowly for some over others.  I think it is most important to embrace loss, remember the best aspects of that relationship and look for those traits in the people that are still in "this room".   Or in those new friendships about to enter }!{