Finally Good-Bye

Closure. It is so freeing. So taken-for-granted. So longed for. And so grieved.

Monday was the first time I got to see the headstones for both my Bubba (maternal grandfather) and Mama Honey (maternal great-grandmother).

For years I have been haunted by the never-got-to-say-goodbye feeling that can linger from a life cut-short buy the firm grasp of God pulling one home. Don't get me wrong, I know there is total and complete healing in heaven for those that are sick, and I know that for believers, someday it will be the biggest reunion we can imagine up there. It is, I can truthfully proclaim, a day I long for.

But. Isn't there always a "but"? What I have struggled with is the proper goodbye. The send-off.

My kids and I. What a shame that my Bubba and great grandparents can only be spectators to the lives of my kids, from heaven.

I guess now that I can see their names on grave markers, I know that they are gone. I can seal that chapter that has been left unfinished and pushed to the back of my mind. I can finally be free of the burden of no good-bye.

Papa Honey, moved in from Riverside.

My Bubba. I miss you!

Mama Honey. (To my relatives who are reading this: is it wrong if I wanted them to make sure it was her in there before they sealed it up and put her name on it? -kidding!)