A Story of Addiction & Loss

Tag: Easter grieving

He Is Risen

 Matt, today is Easter.  We went to church as the sun was shining and walked out into the rain.   I guess the weather is mimicking my soul as I’m silently crying inside thinking of all the Easter’s you have missed. 

I remember how much you loved Easter not for going to church but for the baskets and hunts where you would fill your bag with candy as you ran around with the kids seeking out every egg you could find.  I remember the chocolate ring around your mouth as you ran up to me so proud of your stash.  

Even as an adult you still loved it when I made you your own basket filled with your childhood favorite candy.  You would look at me and smile telling me you’re too old for an Easter basket as you picked through the candy and popped one into your mouth.  

When you moved home we would attend church together.   I loved the fact that you had faith and it made me so happy to share our thoughts about Jesus and Heaven.   Now that you are gone I wonder if you have found that peace promised to us in the Bible.  I wonder if you’re healed and healthy.  I wonder if you know the love of your Heavenly Father and if you’re surrounded by beauty, peace, love and joy.  

Somedays are torture as my faith is challenged, as my grief wraps me up in despair and the doubt slowly creeps in.   I wonder if this is all there really is and when you’re gone you’re just gone.  That is just too much to bear.  That is when the panic of never seeing you again starts to squeeze my heart and take my breath away.  Those moments are when I have to cling to my faith, cry out to Jesus and pray that the Bible is full of truth.  That Jesus did exist and rise to Heaven.  I have to believe that today Easter Sunday He has risen and you are with him living in paradise.  I have to believe that one day we will be together again never to be separated.  That there will be no more weeping or grief.  That when my time comes, yours will be the first face I see and we will once again walk by the sea we both love surrounded by all the pups we have ever loved.  Jesus will be walking beside us laughing as we catch up on all you have missed.  

Oh Matt, I pray you have found your peace.  That you know the love of your Heavenly Father and you are surrounded by peace and joy.  I can’t imagine the celebration of Easter in Heaven I can only dream of what you are living because He has risen.  


 

Thinking About Mary

 


Matt,  today is Holy Saturday.  I went to your garden at church to visit and to plant some flowers.  The cross is draped in a purple sash that was blowing in the wind.  

I filled both bird feeders then sat on the bench and watched as the garden sprang to life.  The sounds of birds chirping filled the air and made me think that even though this garden represents your death life continues around the cross. 

As I continued to sit there and talk to you and Jesus, I started to think about Mary.  The stone in the garden represents your death but the massive cross represents the death of Jesus.  I wondered how horrible it must have been for her to have no idea why the man she raised from an innocent infant was being beaten.  She had no clue what was happening or why the crowds were shouting for her son to be crucified.  

Mary was helpless in stopping his death as I was helpless in stopping yours.  I can’t imagine the horror she felt as she watched the story unfold from the distance.  Never once allowing Jesus to be out of her sight.  Oh how her heart must have broken with every strike to Jesus’s body.  How her eyes could not believe what she was seeing.  Her precious son was being hung from a cross.  

The baby she nursed as an infant.  The toddler whose hand she held.  Now a grown man being brutally abused right before her eyes.  
I didn’t know how she had the courage to watch as her son took his last breath.  The confusion that must have been running through her mind as her heart was ripped out of her chest.  

As I continued to sit in the peace of your garden I felt a deep connection to Mary.  She knows my grief. She felt that pain years before I had any clue that I too would lose a son.  Your death was slow as the drugs took you further and further away.  I shared her helplessness in having no power to stop it.  I share her pain and sadness as you left this earth leaving me behind to pick up the pieces of what I expected life to be.  

The story of Lent is all about Jesus, his crucifixion and resurrection.  Today I thought about his mother, Mary.  How she grieved her son as I grieve you.  

 

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