Love Always Wins

I generally write in my office at the top of the stairs in a room that faces east. I usually start to write in the morning light and since I've moved my desk in front of the window, I can, on our gorgeous mornings, be bathed in sunlight to begin a task that continues to have very daunting moments. Now, regardless of weather, all writing mornings have their shinning moments because of the amazing parents I've been interviewing and the indelible lessons they've been teaching me. Since December, I have been intimately introduced to eight separate human beings, each someone's child. Children who did not have the time to draw an earthly breath; toddlers whose deaths were ghastly surprises; young men and women whose lives were taken by accidents, Cancers and suicide. In each and every case when I visit with their parents, I am treated to extraordinary human beings who openly talk about living with their grief since the loss of a precious child. An idea, both simple and profound, continues to leap to the forefront of their stories. Whether spoken or unspoken, the undeniable truth, taught to all of us by loss is that Nothing Lasts Forever. These three simple words that surround all of us daily are the same three simple words we try daily to forget, even deny as we race to plan both greedily and generously for future. My intense and authentic conversations with the parents of these eight lovely souls has provided three more words, equally as powerful and true as the others: Love Always Wins. No matter the depth of the loss, the availability of unconditional love remains. I am so grateful for these life-changing reminders: Live each day mindfully, as if it were the last one, and know that love will live and give beyond loss.

Jane