At the end of Forrest Gump, Forrest leaves a letter for Jenny from their son at her grave. A message from son to his mother who he could no longer hug and run to when he scraped his knee or got into a fight with a classmate.

Yesterday, my parents and I visited the cemetery where all of my grandparents are buried. We put fresh flowers on their graves, and we paid our respects, taking a moment to think of them. To remember them.

I noticed on the grave beside one set of my grandparents’ was a card. My curiosity got the best of me, and I had to open it and see what it said. (I asked the woman it was left for to forgive me for reading her mail, much to everyone’s amusement, I am sure.) It was a birthday card, and it was at that moment I noticed the date on the headstone said March 23rd as date of birthday.

The note at the bottom of the card, below the Happy Birthday and “We miss you, Mom” made me both smile and tear up…

 

“Hope it’s all God promised.”

Even if you don’t believe in God, you wish peace for those who have passed away, and, within that, I feel like that line summed up everyone’s feelings about their loved ones who have passed away. I put the card back just as I found it. I loved that the family left that for her, and I hoped they would know that I read it out of respect and compassion.

It was a highlight of my day.

It might sound weird, but I hope it was a highlight of the mother’s day as well… wherever she may be after death… that she feels the love of her family, and that they, too, feel her love and peace as well.