As most of you know, my son is severely disabled. This is a beautiful poem I would like to share with everyone. My mom made this into a picture frame for me and everytime I get overwhelmed I read this .

HEAVEN'S VERY SPECIAL CHILD

A meeting was held quite far from earth

it was time again for another birth

Said the Angel's to the Lord above:

"This child will need much love"

His progress may be very slow

Accomplishments he may not show

And he'll require extra care

from the folks down there

He may not laugh, or run, or play

His thoughts may seem quite far away

so many times he'll be labeled

'different', 'helpless', and 'disabled'

so let's be careful where he's sent

We want his life to be content

Please, Lord, find the parents who

Will do this special job for you

They will not realize right away

The leading role they are asked to play

But with this child sent from above

Comes stronger faith and richer love

And soon they'll know the privilege given

In caring for their gift from Heaven

Their precious charge so meek and mild

"IS HEAVEN'S VERY SPECIAL CHILD"

The old question about why there is an expiry dates on bottled water got me thinking about related things. Of course anything sold to be consumed by mouth has to have an expiration date, even though it may not appear to need it. In the case of the bottled water, which is also sold by the case, the expiry date may be needed because the plastic bottle might eventually leach something into the water. I really am not sure about that, but do remember seeing something recently that stated microwaving some foods in plastic could deposit harmful things into the food.

 What if humans had an expiry date? The actual date you were scheduled to expire would be printed on your forehead. Of course we really can not predict this but if we could, would it change the way we live? Setting aside all the discriminatory that might happen and political correctness. I wonder what behaviors might be different if everyone knew the dates of their deaths.

 If a person were religious, would that person be more tempted to stray from the straight and narrow? "Well I've got 35 more years to live and have plenty of time to repent."

 A woman who was already concerned about her biological clock ticking, would be even more concerned if she knew her expiry date had an even shorter fuse. A man would have the same concern about passing on his biological legacy if he knew his expiry date was shorter than average.

 And what about all those really healthy people? Would they be tempted to eat right, excercise and get plenty of sleep, knowing that it would really not make much of a difference? When you stop to think about it, good health is really just the slowest rate at which we can die.

 I imagine some people would choose to live wild lifestyles. "Eat, drink and be merry because next year I'm gone." Other's would choose to make a difference because every second would count as the clock ticked down like the LED readout on a time bomb in an adventure movie. Would some people panic and run wildly in the streets as they face the last roller coaster ride? Denial can be tough!

 What would work best would be to have a changing date based on each person's lifestyle. Eat right, Excercise and get plenty of sleep and watch the date on your forehead cycle a few more years ahead.

 Come to think of it, people pretty much remain the same. If people knew the dates of their deaths, they probably would react as they do now but perhaps with more intensity. We already know that certain aspects of our lifestyles can lengthen our lives, but many of us choose to do nothing about it. I wonder if knowing the date could be extended and seeing it happen would change us much at all.

I've mastered the 2fer math....you won't get me Wal-mart! lol..

Recently I lost my father and I learned there are few things in life, if anything, that are more painful than the death of someone you love. It feels so final, and no amount of manipulation or prayer or pleading will change the reality of death. It is confusing because you often vacillate between anger and sadness. It is hard to identify just how you feel. Often the feeling is of abandonment. You wonder how you can make it without this person in your life. Whatever you feel, you just want it to be over quickly. You want the pain of loss to go away now. But it won't. It continues to sting, and right when you think you're beyond it, another wave of suffocating pain moves you back into despair. At it' s worst you have to tell yourself to breathe, you have to tell yourself to just keep going for one more day.

People will tell you that you're not alone, but it doesn't matter. It feels as though you are. They tell you that God is there for you, but what you wanted was for God to prevent this great loss, and you wonder why he didn't. They even tell you that "God will bring tremendous good from it all," but you wonder why someone you love had to die for this "good" to occur. You don't care about good that is happening tomorrow when you hurt so badly that you want to die today. It seems as though everyone around you wants to come up with ultimate solutions for forgetting your grief and feeling great by morning. But there are no words that dissolve the reality of pain or make it go away. You don't need more people saying things. You just need some people to give you the time and space to feel the depths of despair and be there for you rather than make superficial attempts to fix you. Their is never a quick fix for a heart broken by death of a loved one.