Today is the date of my parents’ anniversary and since I have faith that there are no coincidences in life, I happen to be in my home town this weekend, which affords me the opportunity to visit their graves to place flowers in remembrance of this anniversary. They were married 58 years before my father crossed over in 1996. My mother followed him, as she had since they first met, in 2006.
While my family wasn’t wealthy in material terms, my parents had something incredibly unique in their relationship, something I have sought in every relationship I have been in since I was 16. The power of the love they felt for each other sustained them over the course of their lives. It was a palpable force in our home. The feeling of love’s happiness, with its warmth and the amazing friendship and companionship they shared, could be felt between them and in every part of our daily life. They held hands watching TV or just talking until the day of my dad’s passing. In the weeks prior to my mother’s death she told me she felt his presence with her on various occasions, awakened to feel him sitting on the foot of the bed next to her and heard his voice. She also saw other relatives who had crossed immediately before she passed, but it was the longing for my father that comforted her as her health declined. We talked about her dreams, visions and visitations, and we knew the time of her passing was coming and that she was going to be with him.
It wasn’t until a few years after they were both gone and I became acquainted with someone who had grown up with parents who shared the same type of love, joy and happiness in his home that the realization struck me what a treasure and gift that was. I was stunned to realize I had been trying to recreate that feeling in my own relationships and home since I was young. The rare and deep love my parents had created a space filled with laughter, fun and memories of good times. It’s a gift for me to carry inside and always treasure, to sustain me when I go back in time and feel the power of that love and joy.
