Stop
Looking in the rear view mirror...
~ by Cherie Houston
I originally wrote this in the Fall of 2011 - and must admit I read it quite often to remind myself of the importance of "looking ahead".. Two weeks ago, the 5th year anniversary of my 36 year old son Bobby's death came-we had a memorial mass and most of our family joined us for breakfast including all 12 of our grandchildren, 2 of whom are his little boys.. I have to admit that these last six months have been very difficult for me - who knows, maybe I'm finally facing the reality of it all... But I know I'm not alone, so I thought I'd share this with you again and hope that you can find it helpful.. and now that none of us is alone on this unpredictable journey of finding that new normal after the deaths of our children...
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Within months of our son Bobby’s death in September 2009, my daughter-in-law
Jennifer (Bobby’s wife) and I and several friends met this amazing woman –
Maureen Hancock…Maureen is blessed with several talents, one of which is
helping people who are dying to become comfortable with what’s happening – the
majority of her clients are children… Maureen is blessed, without a question,
in being able to understand their fears and concerns which almost always have
to do with the family they will soon be leaving behind..
Recently, Maureen made the following statement about one of her patients..
I met the bravest woman last
week~Mary A. She's down to the wire with her battle with ALS. She has a
beautiful family that surrounds her in blankets of love. Her one
question..."Will I get to see my children grow up?" YES! I assured
her. For all those healthy & reading this w/children...are you watching
them grow up? Don't live to work, work to live. Maureen Hancock
When I heard this, I thought of all of us who have lost our own children who
often become so lost in our own grief and longing for our child who has died,
that we unintentionally, but sadly forget about our family who is still
living…Not that we mean to, but it is so easy to dwell on what we’ve lost, that
sometimes we lose sight of what we still have…
It’s so important to begin to look and move forward – we can’t change what’s
happened or what is behind us, but we can certainly have an impact on what is happening
today at this moment and appreciate all the blessings we have – our own
siblings, our significant others, maybe we are even blessed to have other
children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, our own parents or
in-laws, friends, associates – so many people who care about us..
Yes we all need to think about spending a little more time looking ahead
instead of in the rear view mirror before it’s too late…
Thank you Maureen for this reminder...
Maureen Hancock is a nationally
renowned spirit medium, teacher, lecturer, holistic healer, and author of the
book, The Medium Next Door; co-founder of the non-profit organization, Mission
for the Missing, providing assistance and equipment in missing children and
adult cases. Maureen is an associate member of the Licensed Private Detective
Association of Massachusetts. She has been featured in numerous articles and
can be heard on radio stations around the country - she resides in a small town
south of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband, two children and chocolate
lab, Ally. Maureen, in my opinion is amazing..
check
out Maureen's website:
www.maureenhancock.com
