" SnowMom of the Pines "

[Huathe]

All,

Just under a year ago, Mom and I visited a wonderful spruce grove on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I posted it here on the OBOD forum but the auto-pruner must have deleted it. It may well have been her last trip.


As an update to that post, my mother is not doing well. She probably has already began the dying process. She is currently in the hospital with a serious infection and the cancer appears to have spread to her brain. She has undergone so many treatments that her body cannot take any more and the doctors have about done all they can do. She now is fading in and out of consciousness being out much more than in. On the bright side she does not seem to be in much pain. Unless something improves she will be going to hospice this week.

She has been bravely and optimistically fighting this cancer for 4 1/2 years and now is nearing the end of a battle she cannot win. But is that so? In death she passes on to a better place. A place the cancer cannot follow. While she loses here, she ultimately wins the battle. She will reside with God and await my arrival in due time. But I will miss her so until then.

I will dedicate this Spruce Grove to her. It is the " Hayes Grove ".

Folks. It has been a hard week.

Check out the link below for the whole post as posted on the ENTS BBS board.

http://www.ents-bbs.org/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=1422

[Heddwen]

James, I remember your previous post. How lovely that you and your Mom can share a love of trees and have a special place in your grove together. My thoughts are with you at this time.

Blessings, Heddwen

[Susanne]

James
My heart goes out to you at this difficult time. You are right that your Mom is going to a better place & you will join her there someday when the time is right.
It is wonderful that you have such a place to feel connected with her.
Blessings to you & your family.
Take care of yourself.
Sue

[skydove]

Hi James,
Be of good courage as your Mom passes from this life to the next, she will never truly leave you as she is just a thought away. I will pray that her passage is peaceful and be thinking of you. Love never dies but passes through the mists of time and place, the link between mother and child is very strong and she will still be there for you.

[Huathe]

We got the word this morning that she is going to hospice. Her fight is almost over. Thanks to all of you for your kind words and thoughts during this difficult time.

[Huathe]

Today my mother passed away at 3pm. My sister was at her side with her as she drew her last breath. Though I mourn and will miss her terribly, I take great comfort that she is with God and that awful cancer is left behind. Praise God!

But tonight I celebrate. Death is but a doorway to heaven. To the Upperworld. Mom has joined the rest of my ancestors and will continue to be a guiding force in my life, as she has always been. Tonight I celebrate her crossing the veil. It is a Rite of Passage for her. My candles are lit inside and my lanterns are lit outside. I play joyous music and give thanks and praise.

Today I kissed her lifeless body farewell but I also looked skyward in prayer and love. In time I will go through the doorway of death and on the other side she will be waiting for me.

Mom had also really approved of my druidry once she learned more about it.

Farewell, Mom. I love you!

James


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJZFj4B ... re=related



" Gone from My Sight "

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”

“Gone where?”

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!” There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: “Here she comes!”

And that is dying.

~Henry Van Dyke

[Heddwen]

[Susanne]

James
Blessings to you. May you always find comfort in the daily things that remind you of your Mom. How right you are that she is always with you!

Sue

[skydove]

Hi James, you are in my thoughts tonight.
Skydove

[Huathe]

On Sunday August the 28th, mom's final trip to the spruce grove took place. Led by myself with my brother David carrying her ashes family members and mom's pastor we headed into the area of the grove that mom selected the previous year. Once there the Pastor gave a simple prayer and then each of us kids added a packet of flower seeds to mom's remains. Becky, the youngest started scattering her ashes followed by David and then me. Once complete we had a few last " goodbyes " and then David left a rose against the " Hayes Spruce ". Shortly after, we left. I will return soon to leave a hearthstone that I had wanted to give her in life but she passed away so quickly that I never had a chance.

I also intend to have a " sacred place " along the French Broad River, near the Crematory to visit, especially in the winter when access of the spruce grove is closed due to winter. When the cremation took place the gases that were mom's body probably drifted over the river before once again mixing completely becoming part of the atmosphere of Dana.

Mom is certainly missed and loved by all of us but the now walks the hallowed halls of the ancestors under God's care.

James



THE REUNION DAY

Since Heaven has become your home
i sometimes feel I'm so alone;
and though we now are far apart
you hold a big piece of my heart.

I never knew how much I'd grieve
when it was time for you to leave,
or just how much my heart would ache
from that one fragment you would take.

God lets this tender hole remain
reminding me we'll meet again,
and one day all the pain will cease
when He restores this missing piece.

He'll turn to joy my every tear
with thoughts of you I hold so dear,
and they'll become my special way
to treasure our Reunion Day.


BY: DICKSONS

[Susanne]

A beautiful post, James and what sounds like a beautiful ceremony. How lucky your Mom is to have such loving children!
Sue