When I was five years old my father passed away from a tragic accidental death. Being so young I didn't really understand much about death, I just slowly figured out I would never see him again. Some years later I went to go see the movie Ghost with my mom and that was when I was really able to understand. Patrick was a young, strong, good looking man, just like my dad was. He died from a tragic death and left behind a beautiful woman so madly in love with him at such a young age, like my mom.
At the end of the movie I saw him in the light go up to heaven and at that moment I knew that my dad did too. As I grew up, now 25 years old, I still watch that movie and it makes me cry at the end. It did then as it still does now - give me something to believe in.
It may sound silly to people who have not lost a parent at a young age, and it would be very hard for them to understand. Today, now that Swayze is gone I can't help but cry and cry and it makes me sad to think that memory might be lost because he's gone. But the truth is, Patrick went right up to heaven just like he did in that movie. Ghost is more than just entertainment for me. It teached me and helped me not be angered or feel abandoned at the thought that my dad was gone, but that he was still living - just in another place. A place that welcomes all god's creatures with open arms and a healing luminous light.
I think it's a wondrous thing to know that one person just living, acting, working, can touch the heart of someone so far and away. I am grateful to have had Patrick Swayze on this earth because I can't imagine any other actor doing this job as real and true as he did.
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Candice...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you already know this...your dad was always so proud of you.
I wasn't young when he moved from one place in my heart to another...and I too didn't quite understand it. But, I always knew that your dad...my dear nephew Louis...didn't have life end for him, it simply changed.
One cannot believe in God and believe that life ends. I know that is why I love gardening so very much...the seasons of the garden are proof positive that life only changes.
Your dad was born in the season of winter...
Winter, a time that by all accounts appears to show little, if any, life in the garden...yet, if one looks close enough...it's all there...waiting to be welcomed and embraced by a new day...and when that day comes, Winter begins her journey into death...and she is reborn into spring...and what a glorious spring it be...a celebration of life, a resurrection of God's garden...and, most importantly, a fulfillment of a promise of everlasting life...and eternity is not to be counted in breaths...
I am so proud of the sensitive young woman you have grown to be Candice...your mom and grandparents have ensured that your dad's gentle, kind and most delicate heart beats within your very fiber.
I always did keep you in my prayers...and I feel rewarded now that I have had this wonderful glimpse into the person you are.
Love,
Aunt Claire