FRIENDSHIP
LIFE IS LIKE A GARDEN,
AND FRIENDSHIP LIKE A FLOWER,
THAT BLOOMS AND GROWS IN BEAUTY
WITH THE SUNSHINE AND THE SHOWER.
AND LOVELY ARE THE BLOSSOMS
THAT ARE TENDED WITH GREAT CARE,
BY THOSE WHO WORK UNSELFISHLY
TO MAKE THE PLACE MORE FAIR.
AND, LIKE THE GARDEN BLOSSOMS,
FRIENDSHIP'S FLOWER GROWS MORE SWEET,
WHEN WATCHED AND TENDED CAREFULLY
BY THOSE WE KNOW AND MEET.
AND, IF THE SEED OF FRIENDSHIP
IS PLANTED DEEP AND TRUE
AND WATCHED WITH UNDERSTANDING,
FRIENDSHIP'S FLOWER WILL BLOOM FOR YOU.
Becky I came across this and yes you can change wording but no matter what this is our normal now!!
Love you!
What is Normal Now?
I was jokingly asked recently what normal meant by a friend and I thought about it and jotted these things down. It is amazing what can become "normal" to us. I'm sure you could all change the names and a few circumstances and your normal is very close to mine.
Normal for me is trying to decide what to take to the cemetery for Christmas, birthday, Valentine's day, and Easter.
Normal is discussing with a friend in the Netherlands how different funeral customs are there than here. Discussing how much both our sons loved trains and how the train sets now collect dust.
Normal is sitting at the computer crying, sharing how you feel with chat buddies who have also lost a child.
Normal is feeling like you know how to act and are more comfortable with a funeral than a wedding or a birthday party. Yet, feeling a stab of pain in your heart when you smell the flowers, see that casket, and all the crying people.
Normal is feeling like you can't sit another minute without getting up and screaming cause you just don't like to sit through church anymore. And yet feeling like you have more faith and belief in God than you ever have had before.
Normal is going to bed feeling like your child who is alive got cheated out of happy cheerful parents and instead she is stuck with sober, cautious people.
Normal is having tears waiting behind every smile when you realize someone important is missing from all the important events in your families' life.
Normal is not sleeping very well because a thousand what if's and why didn't I's go through your head constantly.
Normal is having the TV on the minute I walk into the house to have noise because the silence is deafening.
Normal is every happy event in my life always being backed up with sadness lurking close behind because of the hole in my heart.
Normal is seeing my daughter standing at her brother's grave and thinking, how could this be normal? She shouldn't have to be going through this.
Normal is telling the story of my baby's death as if it were an everyday common place activity and then gasping in horror at how awful it sounds. And yet realizing it has become part of our normal.
Normal is each year coming up with the difficult task of how to honor your child's memory and their birthday and survive those days. And trying to find the balloon or flag that fits the occasion. Happy Birthday? Not really.
Normal is getting up early to exercise (when I really hate exercise) because I know my mental health depends on it.
Normal is disliking jokes about death, funerals. Bodies being referred to as cadavers when you know they were once someone's loved one.
Normal is being impatient with everything but someone stricken with grief over the loss of their child.
Normal is feeling a common bond with friends in England, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, and all over the USA, but yet never having met any of them face to face.
Normal is a new friendship with another grieving mother and meeting for coffee and talking and crying together over our children and our new lives. And worrying together over our living children.
Normal is being too tired to care if you paid the bills, cleaned house or did laundry or if there is any food in the house.
Normal is wondering this time whether you are going to say you have 1 or 2 children because you will never see this person again and it is not worth explaining that one of them is in heaven. And yet when you say only 1 to avoid that problem you feel horrible as if you have betrayed that child.
Normal is avoiding McDonald's and Burger King playgrounds because of small happy children that break your heart when you see them.
And last of all normal is hiding all the things that have become normal for you to feel, so that everyone around you will think that you are "normal".
~ Vicki Windham
THIS IS YOUR BROTHER ON HIS 25TH BIRTHDAY~WISH YOU WERE HERE! LOVE YOU MY JARRETT 
ALWAYS, MAMA
MY MISTAKE ~
Jarrett you and all the Angels have the best seat to watch the fire works! Enjoy!! xo
Becky I just wanted to say Thank you for all the times you"ve visited Matt's site & all the wonderful graphic art you have left there. You are very talented and I wish I could learn to do that stuff. You are truely a sweet heart & i appreciate it. I hope you & your family have a very safe & blessed 4th of July weekend.
Jarrett, wishing you & your family a safe & happy 4th of July ... God Bless!
"I'll trust in God for leading
Each moment of my day.
I will look to God for guidance
In each step of the way."
"The path that lies before me,
Only my Lord knows.
I'll trust God to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose."
SAVING THIS ~ THE FIRST FATHER'S DAY GRAPHIC FOR THIS WEBSITE THIS YEAR
