March 8th would have been Geoffrey’s 80th birthday. It seemed odd not to be celebrating it, and phone calls and texts let me know that many of our family were thinking of him and processing their feelings about his death.

Some dear friends have lost parents or other loved ones in recent weeks. It has been another reminder to me that we each process loss and grief differently. We need to mourn with each other, to allow sadness and loss and loneliness to be felt and expressed, and to comfort each other as best we can.

It’s hardest for me to offer comfort to someone who doesn’t have an understanding or a conviction of resurrection and the great Plan of our Father in Heaven. My words just dry up as I try to imagine how I’d feel if I thought death was a total end of existence! Horrible!

Death seems to me more like the beginning of a journey when I can wave to a loved one as they leave, knowing that I will be reunited with them on a happy day. Or like a well earned graduation after a long struggle.

I’m so glad I know that those we love are not far away and not completely gone. I am grateful that our Savior overcame death, and that endings are really just pauses. And I’m grateful that we can both mourn and comfort each other with His help.

~Nita Smith