This helicopter carried nine legends, leaving behind their own legacies, loved ones and heartache. It's impossible to adequately honor each of them enough. Siblings were lost. Spouses were lost. Children were lost. Eternity though was gained for those nine. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are playing one heck of a basketball game in a heavenly stadium where the hoops are lined with gold and the ref is wearing a sweet pair of Nike Mamba Focus shoes with his golden robe.
I'm unsure of the exact moment I stopped grabbing the "oh &#$%" handle or stomping the non-existent brake on the floorboard as she drove. I'm not even sure when I stopped turning down her radio so she could pay better attention while driving. But I must have because today I found comfort in my new [...]
Any revision that would alter my children or my husband being mine was off limits! However, I'd be lying if my mind didn't wander with other events or even some rather questionable choices. So, I began to play around with some tweaks here and there of what I would do just a little differently. Here's what I came up with in absolutely no order of sense or occurrence; I would hurt fewer people. I would not put the edible underwear in the freezer, in plain sight, by the ice cream with young children in the house. (I know!)
My son and daughter stood beside me, and his son stood beside him and at about a quarter to midnight we shared vows that held more meaning and love then ever uttered by either of us before. We counted down with our friends to midnight and shared our forever kiss under our chandelier, in my $20 Ross Dress For Less dress, wearing our slippers in our very own living room. My heart was finally home.
We don't know why God saves and heals some and not all, but he knows why he does and that is enough for me. Faith, that feeling deep in my heart, tells me that healing doesn't always mean life being breathed back into a body here on earth. Healing means freedom from pain, it means restoration and peace, and sometimes that only exists in heaven. And sometimes loss heals and restores those left behind.
This photo now shows all that it had before and so much more. It isn't just the addition of another person; it showcases life. Real, down to the nitty-gritty life in all it's glory and differences. It shows dedication, commitment and choosing each other - even on the really difficult days. The days when people who have been blessed in not experiencing the blending of two families, will almost always misunderstand us. The days when I'm told I will never be his "real" mom because he has a biological mother already. The days he is told he is not my "real" son because I didn't give him life. Those are the days we choose each other more and now we are very much mother and son.
Let me preface this with saying there are many moms I love and adore - and genuinely enjoy spending time with. However, a group of cliquey moms, that is an entirely different story. I'm a writer which means I am always thinking - if you could see the cyclone of words, ideas, thoughts memories etc., [...]
