Forty-four years ago this very day, the two hundredth year of our Independence as a Nation, a parade of bicycles, many with training wheels still attached, made their way down our neighborhood streets. That neighborhood reminds me very much of one here in Dallas that we call the "M" streets. Two of my kids were in that parade and my youngest son had yet to be born. It was a festive morning. This is forever forged in my mind. Little did I know at the time,that my oldest son would leave us twenty-two years later on that very day.
Twenty-two years later than that, I have ended my period of mourning, although the pain of KP's departure still is with me and always will be. I had an email from his sister this week and she mentioned how it was a hard time of the year for her. She mentioned it on her own without me saying anything about KP. KP was a dynamic person in that he touched so many lives in his 27 years.
For the duration of this blog, it will carry a IN MEMORIAL footer only.
It's been a loss that I have mentioned several times in this blog. I know that some readers are 'turned off' by any mention of death, but most likely, they have not experienced the loss of a child. It is something I would not wish on my worse enemy. Only those that have lost a child know the pain, the suffering, the pause in though to a flashback of memories that are triggered by some of the strangest things. Yet, it is a part of life we all must face one day.
Having said that, from the poem that I wrote to KP, I Must Release You, I will post one last time on this, the 22nd anniversary of his death.
I MUST RELEASE YOU
Twenty-seven was to young to die.
For I will not see you grow grey hairs or
Crows feet in the corners of your bright
Eyes.
When your sister announced your death,
I cried as a father would, but I knew that
I must release you to go and fulfill your
Better dreams.
The canyon of void in my soul is dark and
Empty of your smile, laughs or pondered
Thoughts.
So I released you the day before my
Birthday. I know you are here at times,
For I see whisp of your presence as you
Come and go, checking on me or just to
Be home again. Come and go as you wish
But always know that I loved you so much!
I new then that I had to 'let him go'. What took twenty-two years more was that I had to 'let him go' once again. Which is why I am ending my protracted period of mourning.
We all deal with death in many ways, but its all the same regardless of who we are, or where we live. I am blessed to have a spiritual background all my life. There are experts that can tell us many things about human nature, but none can tell us how or when or why we reach the point to 'let go' of a loved one. That is as individual as the person that is dealing with it.
The skyline has changed so much in recent years.
Next to the pointed building with the dark shadows that is known as Fountain Place, A new building, AMLI Fountain Place of the same modernistic style is a residential tower with a darker blue glass, that fills in the space between the Fountain Place and the Museum Tower (completed in 2013) that has been added also. It too, is a residential unit that made the news because of the reflective light onto the Nasher Sculpture Center that opened in 2003.
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