Carmela Snelbaker

Jesus, Others, You

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain…….Kahlil Gibran

As a grandmother who has lost a grandson I am finding the thought of moving beyond the brokenness unimaginable at times. Someone made a comment to me that was not in relation to losing a grandchild in death however, it was about being a grandparent who lives “a thousand miles away” from their grandchild and longing to live closer. He said, “My solution (temporary, until I can join them) is to love everyone I encounter with the love my Savior gave to me. That isn’t such a bad alternative, after all”.
This reminded me of a situation the other day that I experienced with a child about the same age of my grandson. As I was working on a project in a store, one isle away from me (entertaining himself for quite some time alone) a young boy was playing with plastic dinosaurs. He was very contently acting out noises and actions as if he was putting on a well rehearsed play. I smiled at him and complimented him on his knowledge about the dinosaurs. This simple friendly comment led to a quite long interaction with the youngster as he very eagerly shared more of his knowledge, imitations and stories of the books he read on the subject of dinosaurs.
Once you live through the loss of a child you are forever aware of how precious each and every minute is. Even though this little one appeared to be content in independent play he truly loved the attention and seemed to be in need of kind interaction. After quite awhile his mother finally came looking for him. We said goodbye and I told him that I was sure one day I would be picking up a magazine that will have his photo as a paleontologist and an article on a dinosaur site that he was exploring. His face beamed with a proud smile. When he walked away my heart was once again became consumed with the sadness of missing my grandson, but I pray that by treating the young boy in the store in the same manner and with the same love that I would have treated my grandson it provided a positive memory for him as well as sent a smile and a hug to my grandson in heaven.

With respect, hope, love and joy,

Carmela