Love Letter from Heaven
Posted: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
by Margaret Attaya
White Pomegranate LLC
Some people have stronger ties with loved ones than others do. This is not debatable. The tie between grandparents and grandchildren, parents and children, husbands and wives are unique and precious. Who is to say why some of us are blessed with a stronger tie than others.
My husband was a runner. Marathons were his thing. Then as he grew older and had to deal with post traumatic arthritis, the races became shorter. Running every day was his way to stay in shape, mentally and physically.
He loved the beach. Watching the brown pelicans form their platoons and patrol the beach would keep him busy for hours. We watched the pelican parade for some twenty years. When one bird would straggle, the leader would go back and get him in line. A new leader would take over. The old retired drill sergeant appreciated that.
One granddaughter inherited her grandpa's love for running. She promised him that she would run the Bridge Run for him, and asked him to run with her. He was already very sick. His answer was, "I can't do that this year because I haven't been able to train. Stay in training. Run your best."
His route for his training runs for over twenty years was on the beach. He preferred to run on the street instead of the sand, but had his measured routes on the island. He loved to include the marsh in his early morning run.
The last few days before he died, he was telling everybody goodbye. Making sure we all knew how much he loved us. One daughter said, "I know you are going to be so happy when you get to heaven. You won't be in pain anymore, Please send us a sign that you are okay." His answer was, "I will if I can. You just know and be assured of it, whether you see the sign or not, alright?"
12 On Easter Sunday, early, his beautiful granddaughter left the house while the rest of the family was sleeping. She went to the beach to run, getting ready for the Bridge Run. She was training to dedicate the run to her Grandpa. She ran his usual route. When she got back to her car, she pulled out her phone and snapped a quick picture of the sunrise over the marsh. She sent it to Facebook, with a text to her boyfriend to wish him Happy Easter.
We went to church. The joy of Easter was muted by the pain of being without our loved one. Our faith in a living Savior, assures us that we will not die. He Lives! and because we know He Lives, we have the sure and certain hope of our own resurrection. The hard part is the waiting for our turn to go to that better place. The waiting without the physical presence of the ones we have come to depend on being here. We left church in a subdued attitude, came home and had lunch, and then she had to go home.
The house was so quiet. I sat down to the computer to check emails and Facebook. When I opened the picture of the marsh at sunrise, my breath was taken away. Those beautiful brown pelicans undoubtedly under the direction of a loved drill sergeant, had sent us a message of love. They were in a perfect heart formation. Love doesn't die. We do get messages from heaven. We just have to be ready to see them! He is Risen! Alleluia! and our beloved is there. His spirit is always with us. Thanks be To God. Alleluia.
This Article has been viewed 368 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)That was so heart warming! Blessings
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.