What will you remember of me?

I mean, when I’m gone, what will you remember of me?

Will it be the same as I remember of you? Will you remember my laugh or my tears? My joy or my anger?

Will you write a tribute to my love or a scandal of my failings?

What will someone remember of you?

Time can ease the painful parts, but nothing erases the empty spaces. Live NOW as you dream of... for there is no tomorrow that is worth losing today.

Don't wait until someone has to pack up your life to wish you had lived it differently. It was a lesson hard learned, but one I cannot forget as I box up the lifetime that was mine.

It is our daily task... to create a safe harbor for ourselves and our loved ones, where peace and warmth and love and caring are the treasures we shall bring with us into today. Whatever your memories are, however you have stashed them in your being, remember you can create new ones anytime you wish. You merely have to begin, and that journey begins with a simple HELLO.

Perhaps life does require a goodbye or two, but I like to think there are more hellos than goodbyes; and I think there are, if only we will look! The hellos are right here, in the bits and pieces that lie scattered on the bed and in the dresser drawers.

Goodbye?

Yes, it is goodbye to the way we love each other, but never to the love we share. I can no longer hug you or blow you a kiss across the room, but always, always, I can love you. Whether it is wearing your ring or singing your favorite song, I will remember. You are a part of my life, a moment of magic that still sings in the quiet spaces of my heart.

What will I choose, out of all these trinkets and gadgets and boxes of boxes of treasured trash?

I choose it all.

I claim it all as mine, the good, the sad, the difficult, the painful, the magical. I cannot choose a single piece, for it is the tapestry that it all weaves that is my life. You simply are and forever will be, a part of who I am. I choose which part and place you occupy, but always you are with me.

Thank you, God for giving me life. It hasn't always been the best gift I could dream of, but it has never been boring! You gave me life, and I cherish the part you walked with me. My footsteps are my own, but I know you are beside me.

Our arms may be empty, but the boxes are full and so is the heart. It began with a HELLO and so it shall begin again, with another HELLO.

Thanks for the life.

On the whole, it's not too bad... I love you.