Things I want to remember

It is midnight meaning it is St. Patrick's Day 2021. This day also marks the beginning of a countdown I have been dreading. 

I have always enjoyed St. Patrick's Day and the festivities that come with it, both as a child and as an adult. When Charlotte came along in 2016, we had her newborn pictures taken on St. Patrick's Day when she was just ten days old. There are lots of happy memories of sunshine, parades, friends, green beer, shamrocks, green nails, Lucky Charms surprise gifts, and family fun associated with this feast day for me. 

Over the last eleven months, though, any date with the 17th in it has been a small reminder of whom and what was lost on 04/17/20.

So unwillingly and with a heavy heart, begins the countdown to a day I have relived so many times in my mind since last spring.

However, I have been trying really hard to focus on what else happened that morning. Dad was hopefully joyfully reunited with all he loved who had gone before him. He hopefully is happier than we can ever imagine and is fully restored and with God. So I will have hope, too. 

This past fall, Charlotte was playing with pictures on my phone. She told me a story about a broken heart but that it went away because "your Daddy, my Pappy, fixed it". Then she said, "God is in my head and He fixed the heart and gave it to me". 

Next, she said, "And, Mom, because God fixed it it isn't broken anymore. It is whole and is in my tummy tum-tum. And, Mommy, you know what it means?" 

I said, "What?" 

She said, my heart says, "I love Grammy!"

If you could, please send some prayers up for my Mom and Dad. St. Patrick, pray for us!