I won't be there

I receive in my personal email each day "A Mountain Wings Moment." The thought for today really struck a cord with me.

A lady wrote about going to the cemetery and looking for her husband's brother's tomb stone. At first they couldn't find it and had to call Mom to see if she could help give them directions, and when they did find it they felt no joy or comfort.

These are her words below but it says volumes.

"I decided to walk up and down the rows. Those headstones told so many stories while I walked among them, there were mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and babies who had just one day before God took them home.

When we finally found his headstone I felt no sense of accomplishment. It was marble with words. He wasn't there. The good memories weren't there.

If we want to visit Richie, all we have to do is talk to his parents or his brothers or his best friend. That's where we should look, in people’s hearts.

We could move a thousand miles away and still visit Richie. The part of our loved ones that we long for are much easier to find than a headstone. I think we should visit those we loved often with laughter, stories, and a shared love.

I will tell my children when they decide to visit me to just get together for lunch or give each other a hug because that is where I will always be.

Don't bother walking through the cemetery. I won't be there."

I've always told my children when it's time for me to go not to let me linger in the funeral home but to bury me quickly with a simple ceremony, and to get on with their lives. But I really won't to go one step further and just say;

"I won't be there either so visit with each other and laugh out loud over some of the antics of your mother."