Gitanjali, Song Offering 95, by Rabindranath Tagore
“I was not aware of the moment when I first crossed the threshold of this life. What was the power that made me open out into this vast mystery like a bud in the forest at midnight. When in the morning I looked upon the light I felt in a moment that I was no stranger in this world, that the inscrutable without name and form had taken me into its arms in the form of my own mother. Even so, in death the same unknown will appear as ever known. And because I love this life, I know I shall love death as well. The child cries out when from the right breast the mother takes it away, in the very next moment to find in the left one its consolation.”
“Death Is Nothing At All”, by Canon Henry Scott-Holland
“Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we always enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort, without the ghost of a shadow in it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute unbroken continuity. What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you for an interval somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again.”
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark. – Rabindranath Tagore
I’ll close now. Thank you for walking along beside me for a while. If you’d like to share your story, please see the Share Your Story page. Let us know what you’ve found to be true, what has helped and what has hurt. We may not know each other, but we’re Family.
May you have the time you need to heal. I wish you peace, love and light. Susan Sumerlin Jackson
Pictures of Mason Dixon Jackson, family and friends. (Click photos to enlarge) Memories…so many sweet, funny, profound memories. Finite memories.
Memory nourishes the heart, and grief abates…Marcel Proust
When You Lose a Child 
Dearest Susan,
I hope you are able to get this, that you still get the comments to your blog. Your words have begun a healing in me that is long overdue. Your writing is beautiful, raw, vulnerable, honest, and yet therefore oddly comforting, assuring me that it’s not just me and mine life happens to, that we are all in this together regardless of how terribly alone we feel. I know you love your son and your family, it’s undeniable in your writing, but I wonder where YOU are because I need to see you, I need to know that you made it, that you laughed again without guilt or pain, that Mason came to rest in your soul as he once did in your womb. My mom heart selfishly needs to see that your mom heart is ok. Do we moms make it through? Do we ever thrive again? I’m sorry to be so bold but I identify with you and your pain so much it’s scary. No one could write my story better. Please know that your words have been a light in my darkness; I hope it is enough to shine the way through. Thank you and much love to you and yours.
Daddy feels so empty with out you Sharina I Love you so so much !
Day after day I feel so empty when I look at your bed where we would cuddled within my arms holding you in a tight embrace
of Love !
I seem to replay the scene over and over in my head wishing it was just a dream.
It broke my heart to lose you, but you didn’t go alone.
Part of me went with you Sharina.
I have you in my heart and always in my dreams,
I feel like i don’t have the strength to continue, the pain is so unbearable. I don’t know what to do without you Sharina
Your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure. filling my soul with the warmth of your presence
You are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure.
I will search these skies for you each night At the end of the day as I prepare to close my eyes I know in my heart…
I couldn’t have gotten through the day without you Sharina
But just for now I have to leave you in Gods guiding light
Sleep well my baby Sharina one day my arms and heart will be full again………
As I join you and give you all that was meant to be HAPPY With Da!DA!
Sharina Shanaia Davis I Love you so much !!!
I love Sharina daddy
I have found this such a moving story since I lost my father to sepsis. My oldest sister had sepsis from a cat scratch and was on the brink of kidney failure but pulled through. She waited the day after to see her doctor and I told her she should go the ER right away because of cancer and compromised immune system. Our experience was painful when my dad had sepsis–they told us it was a reaction to levaquin and we went round-and-round with the nurse. He was in respiratory distress for 4 days before being admitted to ICU. He was already on dialysis and had a kidney removed due to cancer. He never opened his eyes except the day before dying and that he was tired.
I lost my beautiful 3 year old daughter a month ago. I was driving and we hit a tree after a car broad sided us. Three years old. I am heartbroken. I noticed your son was an Aggie? Gig Em class of 94. Your words I can relate. I think I will start a blog for my Tatum. I’m sure it’s healing.
I too, just came across your site, found I was in your story about Mason. I’m stunned that such a beautiful man, so full of life and love, could be gone. I’m glad some of his ashes were scattered in our beloved and sacred Big Sur. I have a story too. It’s been almost two years since we’ve lost our niece, Destanee, not yet 19 years, crashed into by a drunk driver, and when my sister called to tell me she was gone, dead instantly, that same breathless shock, unbelief. Life is so precious. Thank you for sharing your memories of him, he continues to live on the hearts of all who knew him.
I send you Big Sur smiles.
Soaring
I came across your letters by accident.I recently lost a friend,i wouldn’t say a close one but a person i knew.I am young and this thought always frightened me,losing somebody.Most of all i was sorry for the parents,because she decided to take her own life.So this is how i came across your site.
Let me just say i read it 4 times,all from the begining and i’m sure it’s not my last time.I cried and laughed and cried again,he was truly beautiful and loved.It’s been almost two years,i pray that it became easier for you .But does it ever?
Thank you for sharing your story.May goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life !
Much love and hugs .Nadia
We remember taking care of Mason. He was such a fighter. We remember you, Steve and Crystal being there and being so strong for Mason. He was truly loved. We miss you guys.
You came to our web sight. I read your letter. It drew me to your websight.
Susan,
Your words, I felt them.. I felt your pain. I felt your pride and your love for your son Mason. I am so sorry for your lose.
We lost our son Justin in May of 2008. Mason’s story sounds excatly like Justin’s. He was also in the Hospital almost 4 wks. We thought he’d be ok. So we took pictures of him in the hospital to show him just how sick he was. Truthfully WE had no idea we were going to lose our son at the young age of 17. We too watched him fade like a flower. L.S. sucked the life out of him. To this day I cry everyday for him and what we and he has lost. His room is still the same I can’t bare to get rid of anything even though I know he’s not coming home after school anymore.
I wouldn’t know where to begin writing my feelings down. But reading Mason’s story it pretty much sums up the words I would of writen.. Thank you so much for sharing your words with me & others that are in the same pain.