Grief is Ugly
By: Kambra Malone
Last week I was thinking that Gabriel’s
ninth birthday was coming up. That was a fleeting thought between
putting together Kieran’s First Holy Communion celebration and
getting our high school kids ready for their out of town crew
regatta.
Today I woke up and found a sweet
message from my friend Erin Foster. Erin was wishing me a good day
and remembering Gabriel…….remember Gabriel!!! A flood of tears
came to me. How on earth did this sneak up on me? What kind of Mother
am I?? I started my day with a FB post of “I feel entirely blessed”
and am ending my day with “The hole in my heart is gaping”.
After I read Erin’s message I changed
my profile pic to Gabriel’s head stone.
My personal friends know that this year
2014 has been unreal. It began with a baby shower, my husband in the
hospital, my son in the hospital at the same time, my partial foot
amputation, Ellie ( our daughter who just had our first grandchild)
was in a terrible car accident, Brendan’s confirmation, Rowan’s
birth and Kieran’s First Holy Communion all since January 1.
I left this afternoon. I went to
flowerama and bought 11 carnations with a blue bow around them. Nine
of the carnations for Gabriel’s ninth birthday and two extra for my
friends baby’s far away that she can’ t go to their grave. The
lady at the counter asked me who were the flowers for?” I normally
would go into the “Oh it’s for my baby in heaven” . Not today.
Today I said “ For a friend”. I didn’t feel like sharing. I
was in a daze. I drove to the cemetery crying all the way. I walked
out to Gabriel and Mary Claire’s grave and laid the flowers down. I
noticed a shiny thing in the grass. I picked it up and it was the
Holy Family medal that our son had left on their grave April 12. I
took the medal and pushed it into the soil beside the grave marker. I
kept crying – felt a pain I haven’t felt in Nine years. WHY? Why
today?????
I don’t know. The hurt was so deep.
Grief is UGLY. It is cyclical. It never
goes away. It finds new places to go. Then it’s back again. It was
back today for the first time in a very LONG time. It felt like the
day we found out he was dead.
Gabriel you are “Back In His Arms
Again”. I deeply love you as I love all of our children and now our
grandchild Rowan. Love is real. It is beautiful. I pray tomorrow I
feel Love and not grief.
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