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Here is a brief sample from a biography I ghostwrote.  The names have been changed to protect the client's identity.

EPILOGUE 

 

So here I am sitting in a church pew staring at a photograph of my beautiful daughter projected on a screen, while the pastor talks about what a tragedy Jill’s passing was.  Then it was Simon and Crystal’s turn to stand before us and eulogize their beloved sister.  They could hardly speak and my heart ached for them.  I wanted to run up there, grab them and hold them, and tell them to wake up because this has all been one long horrific bad dream.  But I couldn’t.  Because it wasn’t a dream, it was reality.  Jill was gone and there wasn’t a thing we could do to change it.

Everyone around me was crying.  Women, children, grown men.  If Jill’s purpose on this earth was to open hearts and bring people together, then she certainly succeeded.  As the service went on and I continued to stare into those big brown eyes on the screen, my daughter spoke to me.  Not in the literal sense of the word but in a strange calm that I felt in my heart and in my soul.

She said, “Dad that’s not me in the coffin.  I’m not there.  I am here in your heart where I have always been and where I’ll always stay.  I will never ever leave you!  Ever.  Those words gave me something to cling to.  Those words gave me hope.  Those words gave me peace.

As we all gathered at the gravesite to say our last goodbyes, some of the church members serenaded us with beautiful hymns.  The setting was perfect, not a cloud in the sky to hide the brilliance of the sun.  We couldn’t have asked for anything more.  Just as Jill’s coffin was being lowered into the ground, out of nowhere came a light sprinkle of rain that lasted for ten seconds or so.  One of Jill’s school friends leaned over and whispered in my ear, “There’s Jill!  Up to her old tricks again!  She’s just letting us know that she’s okay and she sends us her blessing.  I couldn’t help but smile.  The girl was probably right!  Bonnie and I plucked the two most beautiful yellow roses from the bouquets and placed them on Jill’s casket as it was being lowered into the ground.  I blew her a kiss and said softly, “I will see you soon my dearest daughter.  I will see you soon! 

There isn’t a day that passes where I don’t think of Jill and am curious about how she’s doing.  What I wouldn’t do to see her smiling face or to talk to her again.  I would tell her that I love her and I miss her with all my heart.  Sometimes I find the grief is still so unbearable, I wonder if I will ever get through another day without her.  And just when all seems lost, I’ll hear a pitter patter outside and when I look out the window and see the rain falling, I know she’s telling me to hang in there because everything’s going to be all right.