Memories

Yesterday, I received a CD of the rocket launch last year that carried a portion of my husband's ashes into space. It is difficult to believe the anniversary of that spectacular moment was May 22.

While I did not cry during the actual event as I expected to do, I made up for it last night while watching and remembering the culmination of a promise. Steve always loved anything related to space, and I was able to tell him my plans to send a portion of his ashes into "the final frontier." After waiting more than five years, I finally saw that come to fruition.

Shortly after watching the video, I received a call from my "grandchild of the heart." We are not related by blood or legally, but by love, and I have been close to him and his family since he was 2 years old.  He told me his grandfather had just passed away after a difficult battle with cancer. Because Nick often accompanied Jose and his sister, Sara, to my house every Christmas Eve, I can keenly feel their family's loss - he was a good man to know.

Watching the video and hearing of Nick's passing reminded me that it is often the memories that cause us the greatest pain when we lose someone. We grieve that there will be no more memories to make, and it will be some time before we are able to push away all of the bad and remember the good things that we shared. That is one reason I recommend in my, book Simple Things to Make This World a Better Place, that a personal note always be written with any sympathy card that just expresses the wish that memories will comfort the grieving.

Before Nick passed on, I was able to give the family a booklet that gives answers to many of faith's greatest questions. They are questions derived from the book, Heaven, which I have shared with many others. The author, Reverend Randy Alcorn, spent decades researching what the Bible says about Heaven (more than you think), and it answered exactly what I wanted to know. No, you don't sprout wings while drifting on a cloud and playing a harp, but you do have much to occupy your time.

I often joke that people want to go to Heaven because they know how bad Hell is, but the fact is we are often taught more about Hell than Heaven. Regardless of what your faith tells you about these two options, it's comforting to know more about where we hope and expect to spend eternity. And the best part is we will no longer need memories.