Love Lives On
This week, our family lost a loved one. The funeral was heart-wrenching. An incredible light, gone far too soon. But joy too. Gratitude for having her, the delight she was on this earth. One thing I know from the service: love lives on.
For the nine hour drive to-and-from the funeral, rain pounded. Windshield wipers flailing, me squinting to see the road. The next day, when I was ensconced in the condo, rain soothed. Supported my reading a book. I mean, I started in the morning and finished the book by 4:00. I did nothing else but lie in bed and read, at peace with the sush of the rain.
When I heard of the death, I said to my family, “I don’t understand life,” so cruel was the loss. My husband said, “Our job isn’t to understand. It’s to be there for the family. To offer our love and support in anyway we can.”
There’s a reason I’ve been married to this man 25 years last Wednesday.
“God sends rain on the just and unjust alike.” Death comes to us all. It doesn’t mean I have to like it, and I don’t. I am not comforted by the sweet by and by. What I want is an avenue to understand the constant loss of those we love as anything other than a flawed system. A terrible design. A mistake. The answer, for me, is that love is stronger than the stalker Death. In us, in them, love lives on. The relationship continues; we are still threaded together. If we are open to their presence, they are still here. All we need to be with them is love.
Donna
❤️
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Donna, I have trouble with my comments posting on your site and can’t remember if I told you I’ve finally been with my four-year-old grandson so I could read him your book. He told me he really liked it! And how much fun to be able to say, “I know the author who wrote this.” ❤️
Amy Wilson
This really resonated with me today. I just lost my last generational elder, my one and only mother law. The drive to her service and inurnment that followed was a meaningful time to reconnect with friends and family of over 40 years in New Iberia.
Ellen Morris Prewitt
❤️ When we were talking with family about going to the service, my daughter-in-law said, “And yet there is always joy being with family.” I’m so glad you experienced that amid the sorrow of loss.
Joe Hawes
Since I have lost several younger friends recently, I found this very comforting
By the way, ine was a Stephen minister like Tom. We will miss one funeral b/c the other one involves family and is an Episcopal service so the family wont be speaking
Now we are in a time to mourn
Ellen Morris Prewitt
It is shocking when you lose someone younger than you, isn’t it? Episcopal services–my mother always said, You can leave and not know who you were burying. But that’s the way she wanted it. Hope to see you soon.
Marie A Bailey
Oh, Ellen, I’m so sorry for your loss and grateful that 25 years ago you married a wise man. I have railed against the deaths of certain family members and friends, wanting to understand and yet knowing that there could be no explanation that would satisfy me. You are so right that “love lives on.” Maybe that is all we can ever know.
Ellen Morris Prewitt
I do know you understand what I’m talking about. At least we’re all banging around in our grief together. ❤️
Mary Lowry
This is helpful in processing—still—my best soul mate younger brother’s death 3 years ago. Death in this case was so wrong. But love lives on and will until I die.
Ellen Morris Prewitt
I’m so glad it helped, Mary. I cannot imagine losing a sibling. I mean, I’ve tried to imagine it, and I can’t imagine surviving it. So your belief that love lives on with your brother helps me too.
Joanne Corey
I’m so sorry for this loss, Ellen, to you, your family, and all the other loved ones. It is a comfort to know that Love is eternal and holds us in relationship even without physical presence.
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Thank you, Joanne. “Love holds us in relationship” is a lovely way to put it. ❤️
Mary Margaret
Ellen,
I miss you and Tom being around. I am grateful that you have each other and I am friends with both of you. May you find joy and peace, even in this time of mourning.
MM
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Thank you, MM. We miss you too. And I appreciate your reading my words. ❤️