"Now I know..."

Last week while Emma and I were in Anaconda, we ventured up to the cemetery like we always do whenever we are in town. As is the custom, Emma wandered down to find "Gramma and Grampa". But this time, as she knelt down, she could actually read the names. After she ran her fingers over the letters and sounded out the names, she looked up at me, her eyes big and welling with tears and said, "Now I know why we come here Dad. Now I know." She got up, came over to me and gave me a big hug. Then, in a voice that had an echo from both my parents she said, "But I'm not sad, 'cuz they really aren't here are they? They are not gone because we keep them alive in our hearts." Then she skipped off, picking up flowers that had blown away from their graves and replacing them "back where they belong."

Mom and Dad always told me you don't really know what love feels like until you have kids of your own. I am reminded daily how right they were.

Or as Emma said, "Now I know...."