Blessings

Hey kiddo,

It's just one of those days. 

I go to work, and I think I'm doing okay there. I do my best and I seem all right. 

But I feel drained when I leave, like I'm slogging through the mud, and it's almost more than I can do to put one foot in front of the other.

I get in the car, and well, coming home today was hard again (or still?). 

It's been such a dreary, dark,  cold, gloomy day. Did the weather match itself to my mood, or was my mood influenced by the weather? Who knows. I just know I was freezing, both inside and out.

When I got here, there was a package from my sweet sister-in-law with a note. She said that when she packed up Christmas, there were a few things she couldn't bear to put away, so she sent them to me with "hugs from heaven." 

How could she have known? 

When I stopped by your grave today, I tried to see you. I couldn't. You seemed so far away. 

But she reminded me. 

Cards with "Joy" on the front, a metal sign "Joy" and a heart-shaped keyring, some silk pansies. 

You, my boy, you embodied JOY.  I needed the reminder.  

So I will try to smile through the tears, and hold your memory close.  After all, you are "Compatible With Joy."

Such a blessing to so many, to me.

I love you.

Miss you, too.

Love,
Mama 

• "Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another."
  – George Eliot