October 2010 Is Almost Over

Our last days together in Romania. Dan loved the Romanian coffee and whipped cream desserts!

Some of the flowers friends brought for Dan’s 77th birthday, Oct. 18, 2010.

Dan would have been 77 years old October 18, 2010. Wouldn’t you think that I’d have been content to let him go Home at almost age 76? Some people say, “Why can’t you just think about the happy things?” Well, when you lose your best friend of 58 years, and you put your loss behind you a few weeks after the funeral…and think only of happy things, you answer that question.

Here, in Romania, instead of Halloween, they have the Day of the Dead. They honor their loved ones who have gone on before them. Everyone I know, regardless of religious persuasion, visits the graveside of family members, to lay a lovely floral arrangement on the grave, say a prayer, and light a beautiful candle. As the sun goes down, the cemetery on the mountain side east of my mountain is ablaze with thousands of candles.

You ask, “And, you, Anne? What will you do?” Dan’s ashes lie in his grave in SW Oklahoma near the farm where he was born. While his remains are beside his parents, I have great peace in knowing that his soul is rejoicing in a place more wonderful than we can imagine. He is well, happy, in heaven with God.

Next Monday, friends will come to my apple green house, bring flowers to put next to the candle beside Dan’s photo, and say a prayer thanking God for the time we had with Dan. Maybe, just maybe, God will use that day to bring about deeper healing of our grief. Whatever happens, we accept that God is using our loss to shape us more into who He wants us to be.

October is almost gone. My mood is improving. It’s a long journey, but each day, God’s love and the blessed work He provides for me keeps me going…and growing. “The Lord IS my shepherd…” Psalm 23. — Anne

A happy day in the historic Saxon city of Brasov, Romania

October morning in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania.