Thursday's thought for the day....

"Sometimes you just gotta stand there and hurt."

                                              ~ Ann R.

This is a quote from my mother.  She used to say it quite often, years ago.  I hated to admit it then, but she was right.

Sometimes there is nothing else for it but to just feel the hurt.  Because some things really do hurt and there's no use pretending it doesn't.

And after you feel it - you can start to move on.

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of my Dad's passing.  I've been surprised how much it's affected me this year.  The day he died, it was a freakishly 70 degrees outside.  By the morning of the funeral the temperature had dropped to 20 degrees.  We had similar changes around here this week.  Perhaps that's why I've been feeling a little unnerved.

A week after his funeral, I ran into an older woman I'd known for a few years.  She looked me in the eye and told me that though it had been many years since her father had passed away, that there wasn't a single day that went by that she didn't think of him.

I will always be grateful to her for sharing that with me.  It was exactly what I needed to hear and hold on to.  I needed to believe that I would remember my Dad always, no matter the number of years that went by.  

"Grief is the price we pay for love" said Queen Elizabeth, after the tragedy of 

September 11th.  

Another wise woman.  

Today I am hurting.  So I will feel and acknowledge the hurt, in order to be able to then move on to remembering all the sweet memories I hold dear.

 For I too have found it to be true.  Not a day goes by.....