Family bond stronger than anything

The bond of a family is strong and full of love. None ran deeper nor stronger than the one I witnessed between my husband of 64 years and our three sons. This Father's Day will be their first since Emmitt's passing and the following illustrates their strong bond of love.

“Dear Boys,

It seems only yesterday I cuddled you in my arms. What tiny bundles of love … when I held you for the first time, I knew it was love at first sight. The tiny chubby hands and feet, the angelic radiance in your little round faces, the unconditional love a baby brings ... all of this dear boys could only reflect love from our heavenly Father.

Through your childhood, teens and adulthood, I have grown with you to love you more.

There’s something I want to tell you. It’s the most important thing I can ever say.

I want you to be in heaven with me. Please be there. We will never have to say good-bye. We will never be separated. There will be no pain or sadness. It will be a glorious time being together forever and we will praise the One who made it all possible throughout eternity.

Be there my sons and tell your children and your children’s children to be there too.

The Kingdom of heaven is worth it all. It’s a Kingdom of love and its love without end. Think of it. It will last forever.

An eternal Kingdom of joy … joy without end!

I shall be waiting at heaven’s gates to welcome you home once again

All my love,

Dad”

“Dear Dad,

I want to talk to you about some things that we find hard to put into words. You have been so good to us as long as we can remember and we want you to realize we love you more than we can express.

We can’t express very good but we love you so much. We look forward to the day we will be all together in heaven. It will be wonderful.

Dad, we think of times we went on weekend trips to the lake and other places to get rocks. We had so much fun. You helped us to get cars. Time to time you put pressures on us that you could have avoided but you cared enough to help us.

We guess it takes time to realize how much parents love their children. We just want to thank you for all that you have done.

One by one we have grown up and left home. It’s hard to leave home but no matter how far away we are, we can close our eyes and see … you and mom. We see the neighborhood where we grew up, the town and the friends we love.

We will miss you but you will be in our thoughts every day. We love you very, very much and God bless each you and Mom. You are both special people that God must love and be proud of.

Thank you Dad, for being our Dad. Thank you for showing us how to live and how to love others. Thank you Mom, for loving us brothers. Thank you for blessing our lives. Most of all, thank you for showing us there is a Father who sacrificed His Son so all of us can go to heaven some day.

We love you!

Your Boys”

Portales resident Joan Clayton is a retired teacher and published author. Her e-mail address is: [email protected]