Father's Day - June 21, 2009

Today is Father's Day all around the country (I am not sure about other countries) and many families will be joining together to show their appreciation and love to their fathers, grandfathers and even some great-grandfathers.

Some of us will be spending this day alone remembering the previous Father's Days before when our loved one was still with us. No matter whether you are a widow or a widower, it is another holiday we have to endure alone again.

I had a very special sign from my husband this morning on this Father's day. I was outside checking his rose bushes that he loved so much and a butterfly came up to me as I bent down to smell one of the roses. It only stayed for a minute but it reminded me that my Rea is and always will be with me.
Photo credit: http://mrg.bz/qnEK0e
Just because your loved one is not with you physically you can still honor them on this day by starting a new tradition.

* Take flowers to the cemetery and release balloons in the air to celebrate the father he was and the previous Fathers Days spent together.

* Light a candle for him or her, which is what I will be doing later this evening and writing a note to add to the box of other holiday notes I have written since my "dear sweet one" has been gone.

* Go ahead and buy that Father's Day card and write exactly what you are feeling on this day. Men can also buy a card for their wives and tell them how much you appreciated them for making previous Father's Days special for you.

The first letter of each line of this poem spells out; Happy Father's Day

How can I touch you when you're far away?

A poem is not as salient as a kiss.

Poems but poorly presences convey,

Perhaps because of all that words must miss.

Yet write I must because you are not here,

Father farther from my eyes than heart,

A face more frequent than it might appear,

Tempered by the tyrannies of art.

How might I be with you in ways that are

Equal to the passion of my yearning,

Reaching for a grace beyond the bar

'Ere there's any word of your returning.

So may the time between us quickly pass,

Days of longing that long cannot last,

A time when but through words we may embrace,

Yet know that soon we will be face to face.

Poems For Free Thank you for this poem.


Photo credit: http://mrg.bz/oj8K7J

I want to remind everyone to enjoy, love and embrace every one of your family members. We never know when it will be the last time we have the chance to say "I Love You."

Memorial Day 2009

I have been thinking a lot in the last few days about Memorial Day and my husband. Although he did not die in action, he did die as a result of his 30 years of service to our country and our freedom, as did many, many other men and women.

I am so proud of my husband and the sacrifices he made. I always made a special effort to tell him how proud I was of him. I have also started at every opportunity that I can, to thank any one who is in the military or was in the military for their service and sacrifice too.

Until you live with someone who is in the military or has been in the military, you have no idea of the horrors and cruelty that they see and go through and are left to deal with the memories, most of the time on their own. These men and women relive these memories, sites and sounds in their minds over and over. It is something they can never really erase from their minds.

My husband told me of some of the things he endured, saw and had to do during his many years of service in the Army. I now have those visions engraved in my mind too. I did not live through those moments like he did but they are now with me forever as they were for him. Hearing the stories and living through it are totally different. I don't have the nightmares and the sleepless nights like he did but the visions I do have are real enough.

Every day we see on TV the things that our service men and women are going through but we just kind of pass the pictures on the screen out of our minds when the news report is over. They cannot do that.

On this Memorial Day, please take it upon yourselves to remember the ones we have lost and make a special effort to "THANK" the ones who have served and are still here with us. Please don't take for granted what their sacrifices provide to each and every one of us every day of our lives.

I thank each and every one of our service men and women who we have lost and those who are still protecting our freedom even now. May God be with you and protect you.

To my husband, Sergeant Major Rea Bradley Ellithorpe:

I miss you and love you now and always. I am so proud of you for the sacrifices that you made risking your life for our country and our freedom. I am also angry that this sacrifice has taken you away from me so soon.

Rest in Peace My Love. Your pain and torment is over now but my pain is still very real while trying to go on without you.

Part of me died with you that Sunday morning of August 17, 2008. My heart is always with you and you are always with me until we are together again.

Memories Of Sergeant Major Rea B. Ellithorpe