Ron and I just returned from visiting Tyler’s grave. Our plan to manage our first Thanksgiving without Tyler included very non-traditional activities. Rather than gather around family, we sat with strangers watching Lincoln in a movie theater. Instead of enjoying turkey and dressing, we found an open restaurant where Ron ate a spicy pasta dish, and I had a hamburger on a gluten free roll.
We did pretty well today, although we both ended up in tears as we stood at his bench in the dark, with only our headlights to illuminate his precious name engraved in granite.
Despite observing Thanksgiving in an unusual way this year, we are no less thankful. We are thankful, always, that the Lord saw fit to bless us with such a magnificent son. We are thankful that Tyler’s short life was lived to the fullest. We are thankful that many who loved him keep his memory alive. Today a friend texted a photo of their family’s turkey wrapped in bacon in honor of Tyler, whose love for bacon was no secret and whose Xbox username was “iwantmesumbacon.”
We are thankful that God does indeed comfort those who mourn. That we continue to be cared for and loved through both words and deeds. That we continue to be prayed for. We are thankful for each other. That neither of us has to journey through this grief alone. We are thankful for countless blessings.
Most of all, we are thankful for the greatest gift our loving God offers: the gift of salvation, without which we’d have no hope of ever being reunited with Tyler.
As we brace ourselves for these next painful weeks leading up to Christmas, we will focus on this Gift and on this Hope, for that is what this special season is all about.
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all people” (I Corinthians 15:19).
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).