Dear Papa, my grandfather, my inspiration
This is my letter to you, showing my appreciation
I will remember all the laughs, hugs, and even your kiss
Without any doubt you will be missed

You are truly the best father anyone can have
We are going to miss your hugs, kisses, and your laugh
Our minds keep telling us you are in a better place
But our hearts long to see your beautiful face

Midnights in Winter
The glowing fire
Lights up your face in orange and gold. I see your sweet smile
Shine through the darkness
Its line is etched in my memory.
So I'd know you by heart.

Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room,
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still,
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used.

Happy Mother's Day Aunt Susan. I know this is always an especially hard day for you so I wanted to say I love you and so does Erika. You were and still are an amazing mother to her and she would be so proud of how far the foundation has come and how many people, more people then you probably know of, that you have helped. Here's a poem that I wrote a little while ago and I hope relates to how this day makes you feel because I know this happens to me and how hard it is to have to go threw the pain all over again.

Look the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails

When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you becomes fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal. Love leaves a memory no one can steal.

I do not ask that you forget your dear departed. I want you to remember. I only ask That you remember more than the moment of death more than the funeral, more than the house of mourning. Remember life! Remember the whole life, not the final page of it.

People don’t always see the tears a DAD cries.
His heart is broken too when his beloved child dies as
He tries to hold it together and tries to be strong.

If we had been given one more year
to watch the sunset on the far mountains,
float on our backs in salt ponds shaded

Now—just at that silent place,
between sadness and gratitude,
wind-worn balances we all weather—
a cardinal leaps from a bare trim limb,