Wait, that's not true! They are still worthy of celebrating!!
I will go to the columbarium wall at the military cemetery to visit my dad. I will purposefully read other names as I stroll towards his niche because there is something comforting about the fact that others can read his name. I will be sad that this is where I will go see him and that instead of hugging him, I will run my fingers across carved name.....I will pause and take it all in. I will then celebrate all that he did for me. As parents, we know that our kids will lose us someday. We don't want our kids to live their lives without us in sadness. If your story worked the other way around- I simply have no words other than you kids don't want you to stay in that dark place either.
Miss me, yes, but please please don't stay there.
My husband actually had an opportunity to verbalize this when we were questioning if the next treatment was going to save him. "I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of leaving you." He wasn't trying to make some profound statement with that but it stays with me. If I spend too much time in a dark sad place, I am living out his biggest fear. The thought takes my breath away.
You can still celebrate this life that is possibly only because of the Father's that enriched it. Of course, there is sadness but don't stay there.
They don't want you to.
