Full House Full Hearts

I attended Chloe's graduation party and the house was full and standing room only for most of the afternoon, filled with family and friends wishing good luck and safe travels on the road of life.  Being in the house again, hearing laughter and knowing that this is exactly what Di would have wanted for her last grad made my heart feel full and tempered my soul. 

A poem about loss and the greatness of who the people are that carry on the love of those we have lost was chosen and is reflected and worn proudly by this special grad for today and always.

A spirit that has always from the time she was young paved her own road and made her own choices, chose to keep her mom close with words and a flower; two of the many things that Di loved...her garden of flowers and her fruitful gift of gab...

Gone From My Sight

I am standing upon the seashore.

A ship at my side spreads her white

sails to the morning breeze and starts

for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength.

I stand and watch her until at length

she hangs like a speck of white cloud

just where the sea and sky come

to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says;

"There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull

and spar as she was when she left my side

and she is just as able to bear her

load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone

at my side says, "There, she is gone!"

There are other eyes watching her coming,

and other voices ready to take up the glad

shout;

"Here she comes!"

And that is dying.

by Henry Van Dyke, a 19th Century clergyman, educator, poet, and religious writer

Poppies are symbolic of eternal life and beauty. 
What a fitting tribute for Di.