December 25, 2015

Christmas Without You

This Christmas is almost over.
This is the seventh Christmas without you my sweet boy.
It is hard to understand how so much time has gone by.
The hole in my heart is still there.
The wounds to my soul are still open.
The longing for you never stops.

I have no words to say anymore.
I love you and your absence has broken my heart.
I don't know how to make the pieces fit back together,
No matter how hard I try they are always in a jumble on the page.
And there is always a piece missing.
You.

I pray you are happy wherever you are my sweet boy.  I wish you would come to visit me.  I rarely dream anymore...dreams don't come true.

“When we can't dream any longer we die.”  ~Emma Goldman      And there is the crux of it! When one is without dreams, without hope, things get very, very, dark and sad.

These two quotes are for you Nickolas.  If you were here, you could tell me why I should still believe in dreams.
“Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.”    ~Henry David Thoreau

“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

September 11, 2015

They Say It's Your Birthday


















What is "happy?"
I cannot say "happy birthday."
I cannot make myself say those words.
Your birthday will never be "happy" again.
How do I explain how your birth has forever changed my world?
How do I explain how your death has forever changed my world?
Today you would have been thirty-three years old.
I cannot imagine that world.
I cannot imagine who you would be or what your life would be if you were still here.
I cannot imagine who I would be or what my life would be if you were still here.
There is a broken place inside of me.
I must learn to live with that place and make a life around it.
I struggle to find my way in a world that has been irrevocably changed.
I love you my dear sweet boy.
I plead for you to come home and see your Mama.
My heart is broken.
I love you always and forever my sweet Nickolas.

August 13, 2015

Six Years - The Crater of Your Absence






















It is hard to understand how six years have passed since you left this physical world my dear sweet son.

You are so missed and so loved.  It is not hard to understand how the loss of such a vibrant and beautiful young man has sent us all reeling.

Your death was like a meteor striking the earth's surface.  I was stunned and in shock.  I was blinded by the light, the force and the scorching heat of such a devastating loss.

Your death left a crater in my soul and I am still trying to figure out what to do.
How does one understand the emptiness left behind?
How do I explain the hole that I can never fill?
The crater of this loss can never be filled.
Ah, there is the crux of it....so what do I do with this scorched and scarred place in my spirit?

What can I build there?  What life will it support?  How do I make something grow there?
Who wants to sit in this place with me?
Who can help me find a way over, around, or through?

Sometimes the task is daunting...on days like today, I only want to curl up in a ball and cry.  It seems the bleak and dreary grip of sorrow and grief is unrelenting.  It is way stronger than me.  It seems I cannot win.  I am trying to find my way.  The process is slow and seemingly impossible.  The steps forward in my search for new life, joy, happiness, peace, seem so small as to be imperceptible to the naked eye.

And yet, every now and then something propels me forward, the kindness of strangers, the love of your beautiful sister and your Dad, the comfort of friends, and the understanding of those who walk the edges of this crater with me....these things continue to push me along in my grief journey.

My therapist says I am strong...some days I don't feel strong.  I feel weak and tired and afraid.  I want to give up, but I know you wouldn't approve of that, so for you and for Sara, I plod onward.  I am running out of lifelines Nick.  Please come home, I love you more than a wagon full of puppies.  I wish I could see you and hug you and hear your voice and your laughter.  I don't write on here much anymore, because I feel there is nothing new to say.  I love you my sweet boy.

“In some aspects losing a child is like a wall, but instead of getting over it, you must carry the wall with you, wherever you go, for as long as you live.

The wall is immovable.
You can’t go anywhere until you learn to move the wall.

You are just stuck in the same place, forever.
You can tug and tug all you want, there are days that the wall will not move.

And there are days that it moves ever so slightly.

Over time I have realized that in order to move forward, knowing that I must bring this wall with me, that the best way to do so is to metaphorically flood the soil near the wall with water, and have the wall float with me, instead of me having to carry it.

Every act of love and kindness turns to water.
Water and love can penetrate and move anything.
It just takes time. 

I need to turn my wall into a raft.”      ~ John A. Passaro, Again 

August 09, 2015

Wishes Don't Come True






















I wish you were at the beach too Nick.  I wish you never had to leave the beach that week in August when we got the news that they had found a marrow donor. Nothing worked out the way it was supposed to...the bone marrow transplant was supposed to save you you.  You were supposed to be alive.  You were supposed to be here with us.  You were supposed to live!  You weren't supposed to die.  Everything is so messed up....I cannot believe it has been almost six years since I have seen your smile, heard your voice, stood next to you and felt your gentle spirit, laughed with you, talked with you.  I was supposed to watch you grow as a man and dance with you at your wedding and watch you start your family. I was not supposed to be sad for the rest of my life, grieving over the loss of my only son.  I will never understand this.

When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.  ~Rainer Maria Rilke