Melody’s prompt this week was about facing your fears and letting go of them.  We were supposed to sit down in a reflective place and write out our fears.  Then take them back and create something…anything…that shows our fears and releases them.

In thinking about what my fears are, it didn’t take long to determine my biggest fear: Loss.  Not the loss of anything material, although I love having “stuff” after growing up without much “stuff”.  My fear is loss of my family.  My husband believes that he will die early because his father died at 62.  I am holding out hope for him to make it much further than that.  My children, well, as any parent can tell you this is one of our greatest fears.  I have known a few people in my life that died young.  I know it happens, and just pray to God that it doesn’t happen to the little pieces of my heart that are constantly bickering with each other.  Of course, I think about our families, too.  The loss of the ones I love makes me want to cry just thinking about it.  That is where I am emotionally fragile.  You can lose all your material possessions, your job…but it is your family that is irreplaceable.  How does one let go of a fear like that?

I don’t know about you, but I often get e-mails centered around living life to the fullest and telling people you love them before the chance has passed you by.  I know for myself, so many times I pass up the chance to say “I love you”.  My little ones hear it all the time, but I think it is because it is so much easier to say it to them.  They barely understand the emotional weight of saying those three words.  I don’t know why it is hard to say.  I wish I knew.

My Grandma Lillian died a year and a half ago, and we all knew it was coming.  I didn’t see her often since we didn’t live near each other, but whenever I left her I made sure to give her a hug and tell her I loved her.  They say you should never let the opportunity pass you by to tell someone we love them.  I’m glad that I took that opportunity then, but why do I pass it by so many other times?

Here is my creation after some reflection.  I know what it means to me with the light and the dark.  It seems a bit dark, but I don’t mean it to be overly so.  It is just that loving others isn’t all sunshine and daisies.  Sometimes you lose those that you love, but you carry them with you in your heart.  That is the message.  It is a part of our natural world that all things die, but their spirit doesn’t end there.

I scanned this in so you can see it better.  I used my scrapbooking supplies, punches and a rather sharp exacto knife to make this creation.  I am not quite the poet that my hubby is, but hopefully my words are bearable and meaningful.