Weep Not for Me
Nancy Baker speaks from beyond the grave with the message “Weep not for me!” printed on the base of her tombstone in the nineteenth-century lithograph. Her memorial inscription reads, “TO THE MEMORY OF NANCY L. BAKER Died May 7th 1848 in the 21st year of her age.” Her family ignores Nancy’s admonishment to rejoice in her eternal life and not weep. Her stricken father and mother bow their heads and clutch handkerchiefs. Nancy’s younger sister looks at the ground, and her mother comforts her with a hand over her daughter’s shoulder.
When my daughter Alix died, I wept too. I held onto her stepdad and younger sister to keep from drowning. We felt no joy because Alix attained a state of bliss. I wished for Alix to have a full life on earth before she entered the kingdom of heaven at age twenty-five.
Do you weep for the dead? Have you rejoiced because of their entry into heaven?
It took a long time to feel that Dom was at peace now (that’s my version of his being in heaven) I think I’d frozen him in the desperately unhappy place he must have been to take his life. Now I do feel he’s okay, and has shed the heaviness, so he feels light and mischievous again…thank goodness. I hope he and Alix are enjoying each other’s company, I reckon they’d get on ❤️
I found that Knowing and Feeling are very separate entities. While knowing Garrett was in heaven did not diminish my loss, it did soothe my grief, but only slightly. More so now.