Dear Readers,
It is with great sadness and a broken heart that I tell you that my lovely mother, Margaret, passed away on the morning of Friday, December 4. The depth of my grief cannot be measured.
While receiving tremendous emotional support from family and friends, I take a measure of solace from the following:
I am standing on 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, and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says, “There! She’s gone!”
Gone where? Gone from my sight — that is all. She’s just as large in mast and hull as she was when she left my side and is just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her; and just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There! She’s gone!”, there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes!”
And this is a sign of immortality for those who love the sea.If you are so inclined, Mom, my family and I would benefit from your prayers.
Sincerely,
Bill
