Reflections........

This has been a long and draining week for my family. The tears are still flowing and I find they come whenever they feel they want to. The littlest things set them to flowing and sometimes stopping them is impossible. The pain is a terrible ache deep inside of me, wrenching at my insides endlessly. I feel an emptiness where once it was full.

It has to get easier, I know it does. It hasn't yet but I know somewhere down the road the pain will lessen and there will be happy memories in place of sadness. Laughter will come instead of tears. Comfort will come with all of the memories, I know it will. For now I will cry when I feel like it and remember when I can.

I said before that he was an amazing man. Have you heard that saying "Proof is in the pudding?" Well there was proof of my words and how I felt about him, along with hundreds of others. The outpouring of love and support from family and friends was overwhelming. All of the stories I have heard, the love that was put into every word. Grown men crying at the viewing and funeral. The respect for him was shown in every action, every gesture and every salute. The Flag at half mast brough me to tears as we drove by the fire station. To have affected so many lives and be loved by so many is truly a sign of a great man. I believe missed is a mild word for the feelings that have overwhelmed all of us.

Every kind word, every hug and prayer, from my friends at Kindred Creations was so truly helpful to me. I carried all of these words with me while I traveled this week. It became my strength as the miles got fewer and reality closer. It felt like, and still does at times, a bad dream that I was bound to wake from. Then the reality of it all sank in and I realized it wasn't a dream.