Happy Twenty-Fourth Birthday, Daniel

                 Sometimes it seems as if I am sprinting through this life. I can remember the day you were born as if it were yesterday. I was actually glad to be in the hospital that day, because we were about to have a third day of nearly one hundred degrees.  This year, it is actually cold for what would have been your birthday. This week, had you remained here on Earth, you would be twenty-four years old.  I can barely imagine what life would be like had you been able to stay.  You would be through college, and either working or you would have started a business as one of your brothers and your father has.  You might have had your own home by now, or you might still have been at the farm with us, while you saved money in order to launch a new business.  You departed this world twelve years ago, which means that later this year, we will pass a day in which you have been gone from this Earth longer than you were actually here on it.  The twelve years you were here are very memorable to me and to the rest of the family and we talk about you all the time.  Your nephew is now five, and although he is not like you at five, he is a little spitfire. He is full of energy, and ideas, and he knows all about you.  He is especially fond of your CD and DVD collection, and I really do try to protect them from becoming sticky.  Sometimes, I think that I should give some of your things to him or to your niece, but I believe I will know when that time arrives, for each item.  I do know that you don't need them, and that you want them to be used and appreciated once again.    You remain a big part of our lives just as you did, when you were here.

           
 

                       By now, all of the animals you knew when you were here have passed and are home with you, except for the alpaca Warrior Princess Camellia (whom we still call Cammie) who is still here. Please let the animals with you know that we love and miss them. There is also a precious girl, named Sable who passed recently from here, that you didn't know, but that you would have loved. Please look after her.  I know she will come to find you and my Dad.     

                      I don't know much about your existence now.  I know that you know something about the happenings here on Earth.  I am grateful that you don't have to endure some of the scarier parts of life here on Earth this year.   Please know that this week, and every week, that you are not just loved by the Lord God, and the relatives and ancestors you have with you, but also by your siblings and your parents who love you and miss you more than you know.

       Remember that you are loved, wider than the oceans and deeper than the seas, always.  No matter what happens on this Earth, love endures all things, the temporal and the non-temporal.