If you live in the Texas you know how the weather can change on a dime. It'll be sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, and out of the blue dark threatening clouds roll in, there's a tornado warning, and you're running to your safe place, body shivering in anticipation because you don't know what power this storm is going to bring with it. Well, life has those kinds of storms that come out of the blue too that leave you shaken to your core.
The morning started off normal enough. Literally dragging Eric out of bed while arguing that school and food are necessities and, "If you're that tired you need to start going to bed earlier!" That kid is a sloth. He goes SO slow at everything! It drives me nuts! It also doesn't help that he's a total night owl like his mama and fights going to bed until at least 11pm every night. I fight that kid coming and going.
Dylan, for the most part, is pretty easy to get up but I have to go through the checklist every morning and make sure he has done everything. Otherwise he goes to school with no deodorant on, no teeth brushed, and dirty clothes/socks on. Boys, am I right? I also found out last week from the school nurse that he is either not been insulating or insulating incorrectly for breakfast because his lunch numbers have been incredibly high so now it's back to Mom supervising (for those that do not know my youngest is type 1 diabetic).
Everything was going "smoothly" until I got a text from my cousin to check Facebook. Late Sunday night my aunt had posted that her 36-year-old brother had been found unresponsive and that they were taking him to the hospital. I read through the feed and saw the words that stopped me cold, "He's gone." NO!! A million thoughts started racing through my mind. He has two young boys! He's only 36! That's my age! This can't be real! But it was. Unbeknownst to me, he was addicted to pain medications and had overdosed. We don't know if this was intentional or accidental but it is still heartbreaking nontheless.
I have know this man since we were thirteen years old, when his older sister married my uncle. We've grown up together! We weren't super close as time has passed, but that happens when you get married, have kids, and life just gets busy. We just saw him not too long ago and he seemed fine. It just goes to show that you never really know what is going on in someone's life. I'm going to miss his smile and his laugh. He had one of those laughs that were contagious and his smile could light up a room. I can't believe I'll never get to see it again.
In times like these you want to say something, anything, to take that pain away, even though you know you can't. There are no words. So, you find other ways to show that you care.
Despite being sick all week with what I can only hope is just a cold, I sat down at my desk and I did something I haven't done in awhile. I made a card.
When I first sat down I was clueless as to what I wanted to make. I haven't made a sympathy card in so long! When I was going through my stamps I realized I don't even have a sympathy stamp! But I figured "thinking of you" is just as good.
I went to Splitcoaststampers for some inspiration and thought this week's color challenge was perfect! I normally have issues with color challenges but once I got my concept it just gelled.
My Verve Stamps haven't gotten some love in a long time and it felt so good to ink them up! Sadly, all of the stamp sets that I used on my card are retired but if you go on Verve's website, Julee has some amazing sets that are all on sale right now!
I stamped this gorgeous background stamp from the Grateful Elegance set in Garden Green ink, the sweet little butterfly is from the Die Sidekicks set and is stamped in Sweet Sugarplum ink, and the sentiment, stamped in Rich Razzleberry ink, is from the Accent Notes set. I cut out the hearts using my Big Shot and the Sweet & Sassy Framelit Dies using Rich Razzleberry and Sweet Sugarplum cardstock and popped them up on Stampin' Dimensionals.
I had a few Swarovski crystals so I put one on the butterfly and two on the heart. This is a clean and simple card and I wanted some sweet little sparkle.
For me, it was therapeutic to stamp. I prayed the entire time and got up from my desk feeling more at peace. I cannot imagine what my aunt is going through right now but I hope and pray that this gives her some peace. I hope that she knows that she is not alone in her sorrow's and that her little brother will be missed.
Rest in peace my friend.
a heartbreaking loss - sending prayers of comfort from PA -
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet card, Christi. Every loss is hard, but the young ones with kids always break my heart. Hugs!
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