I Wish / I Hope / I Know

I Wish / I Hope / I Know

I wish we had more time together. I hope to cherish and treasure all the moments ahead with the ones I love.

I wish for everyone the closeness we shared. I hope to achieve it to an even greater depth with my daughter.

I wish I’d inquired more about your life as a wife and mother. I hope to be intentional in sharing and writing about the highs and lows of mine.

I wish I had done more for you; served you better, loved you harder, cared for you even more selflessly. I hope to do those things for our family now.

I wish I’d stayed with you longer after you breathed your final breath; to have put my cheek against yours and felts its coolness one last time. I wish that, although I know your spirit was gone, I would have sat with and given due respect to the body that, upon the Lord’s command, fought hard to keep you around for as long as it did. I hope my body serves me as well as yours served you.

I wish I had sang for you on that final day as I had so many times before. I hope to sing again someday.

I wish I had captured more photos of you. I hope to take a thousand photos of the ones I love tomorrow alone.

I wish I would have known how devastating, paralyzing, and profound the loss of you would be. I hope to be more compassionate to those who encounter loss in the future.

I wish I would have followed through with my intentions and called you that last morning; to have had one more conversation spoken in the story of you and I. I hope to slow down and take more breaths; to give myself plenty of time so as not to be rushed, and follow through with my intentions more frequently.

I wish I had known how to better cope with and endure your absence. I hope the days ahead meet me with more ease and less sadness.

I wish I had shown you deeper appreciation, listened to you more intently, and held your hands more often. I hope my daughter gives me what I didn’t always give you.

I wish you could see how beautifully the ones you loved have lived and flourished in the long days since you’ve been gone. I hope we all continue to honor you and all you taught us every day.

I wish I hadn’t experienced and entire year without you, yet, I hope to endure many, many more.

So many wishes, Mom, and so many hopes…

I wish you were here.

I hope for much.

I know you’re at peace.