Today the Procession will start...

Phyllis, Arthayer and Ruth are no longer with me in physical view...but they are very near to me...
Phyllis died 16 years ago...yet she continues to live in and through Heather and Jennifer...
Arthayer would have lived forever, not because of fear of dying, but rather, because he was having such a good time living on earth...
Ruth is my mother...her birthday would have been April 10th...she played the Organ for Phyllis' Memorial Service on her birthday 16 years ago.
Before sitting with my mother last Easter...I had, like Thomas, some question about Heaven...
She and I didn't attend Church last Easter...I sat holding her hand as she slept, while on the television was HGTV.

As we sat at the Kitchen Table while she ate her lunch, suddenly after a moment of silence she turned to me and asked "Peter, have you given any thought as to where you are going to be buried?
at which point I flippantly responded "frankly, mother, I don't give a damn because I'm not paying for it." Little did she know that I was about to tell her what the Dr. had said to me about my health"
I drove over to Celebration last September to say good-bye to my mother. We talked in hushed tones as I thanked her, for being by your sides when Phyllis was dying, for being my mother.
She said to me as I prayed with her and kissed her, "i will see you along the road..."

In that moment, I received the special gift which I had already received from Phyllis, my father, and now my mother...a touch of heaven on earth!!
As I drove home tears in my eyes, a question arose within my mind...
"If Christians are convinced that Heaven is so wonderful, why do they spend so much on Drs. who do everything to keep us alive???and won't admit that we are dying>??? Something to ponder as the procession begins...