I had everything planned out for what I wanted to send everyone this year... but things just didn't really go according to plan. Since I didn't get my packages together for everyone, I thought I'd just post pictures of what I wanted to send... Not quite the same, but it's definitely lower in calories this way... :)
Sometimes it feels a little surreal to think about our family 21 years ago and what life was like. There are some things I can remember so clearly and the emotion feels so recent, and then there are other things I struggle to remember or feel like they must have happened in another lifetime. We had a lesson in Relief Society a few weeks ago and we talked about losing a loved one. Those types of lessons are always a little difficult for me, but that Sunday I just felt so grateful to Mom and Dad for teaching us that families can be together forever. I have never questioned that throughout my life and I know it's because I learned at such a young age that relationships don't have to end because of death. I hope you all know how grateful I am for our family. I'm also grateful for this day that we have to remember Anthony and especially to remember that we can be a family forever. I love you!!!
2 comments:
Thank you for the sweet thoughts---I am so grateful for all of you. If I didn't know that life would continue on after we leave this earth, I don't think the things that we are experiencing right now would have any meaning. We are blessed to have that truth in our life. Anthony and my Mom are enjoying there reunion and we will too one day.
I literally considered doing the same thing, posting pictures like these (although I hadn't thought of the licorice IV tubes.) :) I'm glad you did it.
As I was talking to Mom last night it struck me that Anthony's battle with cancer lasted less than a year... which is interesting to me because it was by far the most significant event of my childhood--I would have thought it lasted more like 3-4 years. I am so grateful for how you handled it, Mom and Dad. As I've become a parent, I've begun to appreciate how unimaginably difficult that year must have been. And yet as a child growing up, I think I took for granted how well you coped, held things together, and really turned what could have been a tragedy for our family into a fortifying experience. You couldn't have done a better job of enduring your own pain and heartache while teaching us what ultimately mattered and helping us to see the eternal perspective. I don't think it was a coincidence for me that because I turned 8 and was baptized that year, the whole experience helped me gain a testimony of the Plan of Salvation that I have never doubted.
I love all of you so much and am so grateful that we are all working toward the goal of joining Anthony and our Savior in Paradise.
Post a Comment