Memory Monday: Missing My ParentsM

My parents in 1959

MISSING MY PARENTS

Early last month, I asked a friend what he and his wife planned for Christmas. Were they going to visit their kids and grandson? He said no. They were going to visit their parents. This stirred something in me that I haven’t felt in long, long time.

My father has been gone for more than 30 years, and my mother passed away over 12 years ago. Ever since that conversation with my friend, I have had an intense longing to talk to my parents—stronger than I have ever felt before. Now, often during the day, I catch myself thinking of something and wondering what one of my parents would have said about it. I miss my parents more now than at any time since they died.

For now (and for as long as God allows me to live here on Earth), I have a lot to look forward to with my family—more years with my husband, the shared love of our children, the wonder of our granddaughter and hopefully seeing her into adulthood, and maybe more books of mine published.

But something has shifted. I now look forward with a longing to that time when I will be with those who have gone before me. At that time, I won’t be concerned about how they survived in the Great Depression, the differences between the way I make ice cream and the way my mother did, or even “boasting” about how many books I published. No, at that time, it will be a time of reunion—marvelous reunion with those I love and haven’t seen in years.

Even though I’m in my mid-60s, I have a better understanding of “old” folks when they say they are ready to “pass over.” There is just something comforting in knowing that there are others “on the other side” just waiting for us.