Shirley Neering Schmidt Creager

This past weekend my wife's mother Shirley passed away. She was born to Royal and Doris Luce a long time ago. She married Paul Schmidt and together they had eight beautiful and wonderful children; each still spread the joy that was Shirley, everywhere they go. Later in life she re-married and spent many years in the desert plains of Mesa, Arizona. It was a life with so many stories.

Shirley's life and story was filled with all of the pain and joy that comes with living this grand life. We each get to make what we want and can of that life. Shirley did just that.

You know, when a life ends, the length of that life is always far too short for those remaining. We each want one more day, an hour or even a few more seconds. But we do not get to chose the time or the place, we don't get to hold our loved ones in our arms forever.

What we do get to keep and hold onto are the memories and love for those that have passed before us. It is that love which will never cease, and means our loved ones will never end; love is eternal.

The following poem was written by Mary Frye in 1932. The inspiration came from a young Jewish woman who was living with Mary and her husband. This woman's mother was ill and living in Germany at the time. Due to the anti-Semitic unrest, her mother begged of her not to come back to Germany; that she would be okay.

Soon this young woman's mother died and she was heart-broken that she never had the chance to “stand by her mother’s grave and shed a tear”. She cried in pain at not being able to be with her mother and say goodbye.

Mary Frye then wrote the following poem.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there;
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there;
I did not die.

In our hearts and memories, Shirley will always be here with us. Even though we never had a chance to say goodbye, we know you are still here with us. And until we get to meet again, the stars will shine and the sun will warm our days. We will know that you are peacefully smiling upon each and everyone of us.

Someone Is Thinking of You

“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”

Our mother, Rose Marie (Gale) Primm passed away on October 14, 2008. She died from the effects of Pancreatic Cancer. It is a day that our family carries in our hearts because Mom gave us so much during her life and also in those final days.

One thing she said that resonates with me to this day is, "Prayer was here for us before we knew what prayer was for." To me it means that God is looking out for us even if we are unaware of it.

I add my mother to that list of people up above. She is looking out for each of us even now from a greater place. She is doing so even when we don't realize that she is. And for that I thank you Mom.

Love you and miss you.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

"It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As I draw closer to finishing the manuscript for my new book, there are stories I wish to tell. Stories that speak of love and how it manifests itself in our history and in our everyday lives.

Today is a love story about English royalty and the death of a royal. This is not the story of Princess Diana, however tragic that was. This is the story of a queen who mourned her husband's death for 40 years.

Queen Victoria was a lively, cheerful girl, fond of drawing and painting. She ascended to the throne of England in 1837 after the death of her uncle, King William IV. It was in 1840 that she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. While at first Prince Albert was unpopular in some circles because he was German, he came to be admired for his honesty, diligence, and his devotion to his family. The couple had nine children and Victoria loved her husband deeply. She relied on his advice in matters of state, especially in diplomacy.

Sad as it may be, Albert's death came suddenly; in November of 1861 he contracted typhoid fever. He was sick in bed for several weeks and fell silent from the disease on December 14. Albert was only forty-two years old and Victoria was devastated.

She wrote to one of her daughters, "How I, who leant on him for all and everything—without whom I did nothing, moved not a finger, arranged not a print or photograph, didn't put on a gown or bonnet if he didn't approve it shall go on, to live, to move, to help myself in difficult moments?"

For three years, Queen Victoria did not appear in public. While she held herself in seclusion, this generated quite a bit of criticism and several attempts were made on her life during this period. It took the influence of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to persuade Queen Victoria to resume public life, by opening Parliament in 1866.

Queen Victoria never stopped mourning her beloved Prince Albert. She always wore the color black until her death in 1901, a sum of forty years. It was during her reign, which was the longest in English history that Britain became a world power on which it is said "the sun never set."

The sun never set on her love for Albert, an example of undying love. A love that lived on beyond the physical and beyond their time together. Love can be that lasting.

Your Wake Up Call

"A man is what he thinks about all day long." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every day that you wake from sleep, you have a choice to make regarding your attitude. If you choose to think in a negative fashion, it will be a negative day you will have. If you choose to believe nothing will come to fruition in your life, than nothing will. What you believe in yourself will dictate what will happen.

Why not choose to believe in better things for your life. Why not believe that the day can be good. Why not believe in those around you. Why not believe in yourself.

Choose today that things will be good.