by Hoyden » September 14th, 2011, 11:41 am
For some reason, Christine has been in the forefront of my mind for the last week. I have been packing for our move and found more of the presents that she sent to Gremlin with Mick on them. Gremlin still wears the pendent with Mick & a small pit bull pendant that Christine gave her on a ball chain along with her dog tags. She's worn them for years now. Each night, they are hung on her little shrine/alter that has pictures of the dogs & people that she keeps in her prayers.
A friend saw the magnet on my fridge with Mick & palm fronds that says, "Love is, above all, the gift of oneself." last year and gave me a set of sterling silver palm frond earrings for being a good friend even when it meant I just listened because I was too sick to do much else. I wear them often & have been searching for a pendant to match them.
Mark tried to remove that magnet last year and Gremlin pitched a temper tantrum, so it has stayed, our daily reminder that love is the best gift to give to others we care about.
As much as hearing of her death hurts, I know that in my heart she is with Mick and Jessica. Christine will not pass another fall with the heartache of missing them, instead she will be with them. When I told Gremlin that Christine was sick last year, she told me that Mick's Mommy had a broken heart.
Rest peacefully my friend, you are now with those that you missed so much. Know that even though we never met you in person, you have touched our lives and taught us valuable lessons in kindness, caring, perseverance and unconditional love that we will always carry with us.
Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men ~ General George S. Patton, Jr.
She taking all the stars down from her sky to hang them up someplace new, where there's better weather and the sky's a different blue. ~ Autumn Fields