Daniel's Seventeenth Birthday

 

 Cake by: Sweet Treats by Susan: Happy Birthday Cake

  

This was another cake for another Daniel.  I think this would be my pick for my birthday !

   Rather than celebrating your birthday in your absence, on the actual day of your birth, I have taken to celebrating your birthday on your birth week.   I am aware that it makes others who have not lost a son or a daughter in this life, a little uncomfortable.  This is not about them. It is not up to us, or to anyone who is grieving to arrange our lives in a manner which is more palatable to the masses.  The loss of a child is a lifelong grief, and a deeply personal we must adapt as we must.  We have to find the procedures and rituals which comfort ourselves and our families.  We don't really need to please anyone else.
    I realize and accept that Daniel's sudden departure is one of the things which makes me who I am, with both good and bad. I also realize that in some way, constructive or otherwise, I will be grieving his passing from Earth before mine, for the rest of my life here.  Of course it will seem to center on his birthdays which are in the Spring, and the date of his passing, which is in Autumn, and the entire thing will be exposed raw at Christmas, but this is how it is.
    Daniel, I cope by knowing that God had a plan and sent you to Earth to achieve certain things and to understand certain joys while you were here.  All parents hope that their child will enjoy the "entire package" of life, and I was no exception.  I did not understand that you were to be called home, with no notice, that beautiful backlit morning.   I still can't completely believe that this is what happened.
     I look at the week in which your seventeenth birthday is occurring.  How could this be ?  You left Earth at 12 1/2, and on Earth you would have been seventeen.  I try hard to imagine what you would look like now. I know that you would have grown and matured, but I also know that your loving heart and commentaries would not have changed.  I knew who you were, not only at 12, but I knew your soul and it is ageless.
     It never ceases to amaze me how many "Happy Birthday Daniel" cake photographs can be found on the internet, especially at this time of year.   Please know that your family on Earth loves you, and never forgets any of our experiences here with you, and we wish you joy and happiness there, this day and always.

 A Happy Energetic Song "Amen" By Sarah Slean


Happy Birthday Daniel