If I Had One More Day
If I had one more day,
my child, to spend with you,
Anything you want I promise we would do.
If I had one more day,
to see your precious face,
We'd wake up bright and early--
not one moment would be waste.
If I had one more day,
in your sweet voice let me hear,
"I'll love you, Mom, forever and
I'm waiting for you here."
If I had one more day,
I'd beg for another,
Because it's the only way to mend
the heart of a grieving mother.
Brenda Taylor, The Compassionate Friends, Nashville, TN
This Winter of your life will pass, as all seasons do.
Stay in your season of Winterness as long as need be,
for everything you feel is appropriate.
There is no right way to grieve.
There is just your way.
It will take as long as it takes.
Rusty Berkus, from To Heal Again
Don't be reckless with other peoples' hearts, and don't put up with people that are reckless with yours.
Kurt Vonnegut
I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief or bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
Henri Nouwen, from Out of Solitude
Sometimes love is for a moment.
Sometimes love is for a lifetime.
Sometimes a moment is a lifetime.
Pamela S. Adams,
The Compassionate Friends,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Grieving is as natural as crying when you are hurt, sleeping when you are tired, eating when you are hungry or sneezing when your nose itches. It is nature's way of healing a broken heart. A cut finger is numb before it bleeds. It bleeds before it hurts. It hurts until it begins to heal. It forms a scab and itches until finally, the scab is gone and a small scar is left where there once was a wound. Grief is the deepest wound you will ever have. Like a cut finger, it goes through stages and leaves a scar. When you try to help someone heal from their pain, chances are you are probably healing yourself. Listen to the words within your own heart.
Patti Filion
The Broken Chain
We little knew that day, God was going to call your name.
In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone.
For part of us went with you, the day God called you home.
You left us beautiful memories, your love is still our guide.
And though we cannot see you, you are always at our side.
Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same.
But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.