Letter to Elisia Jane

Dear Elisia Jane,

Soon it will be a year since you left us.

So soon, too soon, so sudden.

We didn’t know–I didn’t know–that the hugs you gave on Easter would be the last I’d feel your touch.

This Thursday would have been your fourteenth birthday.

A reminder of the day you were born bringing sunshine into our lives.

But now there is an empty seat at our family gatherings.

They are not the same without you.

You leave in my heart a hole that memories cannot fill.

Yet I know you are in the best place possible.

You have come face to face with our risen Lord.

I can’t begrudge you that.

I envy you that.

Oh what sights you must be seeing now.

You had just begun dancing en pointe, are you dancing now before the King of Kings?

How much more that joy must be in His presence.

Now we  comfort ourselves with the fact that each day brings us closer to the day we will see you again

Either as these earthly bodies fade away and we go where you are now

Or when Jesus comes back to earth, and we gather together with Him in the air.

What a glorious day that will be.

Until then, I will remember the joy of life that you had while you were with us:

Your smile.

Your love.

Your hugs.

Your giving.

Your caring heart.

 

All my love,

Grandpa