Happy birthday, Alfie

Today is November 8, my Al's birthday. He would have been 71. 

I've wondered over these last nearly 14 years how birthdays might be celebrated in Heaven. I've decided that the very thing that makes them difficult here is the thing that makes them just another day there. 

Here, they mark the passing of time, they are the celebration of another year lived. The absence of a dearly loved one makes the day especially bittersweet and difficult. 

There is no time in Heaven, life is eternal! Today is wonderful for Al! Everyday is wonderful for Al! Here, his joy would be severely compromised with current events. There, his joy is unaffected by the temporal things of this world! 

While birthdays remind us of the empty seat, they also celebrate lives well-lived, people well-loved. So today, I celebrate Al, the life he lived: 

He was a husband. My husband. He loved me with all his heart - and I him. Death does not change that. Remarriage does not change that. I still do and always will.

He was a daddy. He was a father who taught and disciplined, but most importantly, he was a daddy. He loved his little girls! Our daughters never doubted that! He was fun, funny, playful, kind, firm, loving, a "nerd", protector, defender, provider - all the things a good daddy should be!

He was a grandpa. "Big Papa" adored his grandchildren. He was never happier than when they were around! He beamed with pride over their accomplishments - and their failures? What failures? They were perfect in his eyes! It saddens me that our three great-grandsons will never know him this side of eternity, but it pleases me to think he may have talked to them about us when God was getting them ready for us. 

He was a son. He loved and respected his parents, enjoyed spending time with them, strove to make them proud. And he loved my parents as well, was protective of my mother, and respectful toward my father, not because he earned it, but because it was the right thing. That spoke volumes to me about what kind of man he was when we were dating!

He was a brother. He enjoyed his siblings, appreciating their uniqueness. Sometimes they drove each other crazy, and he could complain about them - but no one else better even think about it! He loved each one of them dearly!

He was a good friend, employee, all around person, but what he mostly was, was a man of God! Everything else, all his other hats, revolved around his love for God and service to his Saviour!

As I face this day that is a glaring reminder of his absence, as I remember the 42 birthdays we celebrated together and reflect upon the now 14 that I have commemorated since he went home, as I acknowledge a tremendous sense of loss for myself, our children, our grandchildren, his siblings and friends, I rejoice that he is celebrating a completed joy, a gift beyond compare, eternal life! If you don't know the Savior who has given this gift, please find Him!

Happy birthday, my Alfie! You are loved and missed!