A Life Remembered...

No matter what I do to occupy my time and try not to think about it, this anniversary, the day my wife, Teresa, went to be with the Lord, continues to haunt me with emotion.  However, other than immediate family and one friend's annual reminders at the crack of dawn on every anniversary (this day, her birthday, our wedding anniversary...), no one else remembers.  I guess eleven years is too long to grieve for most of our community who didn't know her like we did.

Yet we do grieve, those of us who called her close friend, daughter, niece, mom, or wife... we continue to suffer because the mystery of death is still with us.  We celebrate that she is with our Lord and Savior, but we miss her impact on our daily lives.  And it hurts.  My daughter took it hard this year, more than any other years.  And that makes my heart ache for her.  She never even knew her mother.  She was only five months old when Teresa left us, but she knows that her life could be so much better with her mom in it.

So please continue to pray for us.  Forgive me my bitterness.  Thank you for thinking of us on this dreaded anniversary.

And thank you, Lord, for blessing us with thoughts of Teresa, a wonderful human being in so many ways.  May we always remember her life (and not her death).

Teresa Shirlen Freed

Born:  May 28, 1972

Died:  April 19, 2004

Christ-Follower, Mother, Daughter, Niece, Friend, Teacher, Role Model...

Wife