Beautiful Rose's!!

Here are some of the roses that were on Jeff's casket before I dried them, I thought they were so beautiful! I wanted to incorporate these pictures with the shadow box's but it didn't work out, so here they are to look at and enjoy!

The love we have for Jeff!

I'm not sure how to put into words how I feel but I'll do my best... I didn't have the opportunity to sincerely tell Jeff how I felt about him before he passed away and I hope Jeff and his family knows and understands how much he meant to Cary and I. He wasn't just a best friend but it was much deeper than that, the deep love that we have for Jeff is so strong and so deep that I can't put it into words the feelings I feel for him. I truly felt like I lost a brother in-law and Cary lost a brother, but those feelings don't change even though we can't call or see him, we will always love him and Jeff will always be Cary's best friend, instead of texting him or calling him to say hi we just do it a little differently, I know he can hear us and its comforting to know that!

I was pregnant at the time of his passing and didn't know it yet. When I found out that I was pregnant a week later it really made me connect with Jeff, it was healing to me and I knew that he was with my little spirit that I was caring and getting to know it, it really helped me cope with Jeff no longer being here, I would day dream about how neat it would be to have my baby born on Jeff's birthday since I was due June 3. When we found out I lost my baby on Nov. 9 (2 months later to the day) It crushed me to pieces, the spirit that I once carried was no longer with me and I felt its absence so strong, it was an empty feeling that I can't explain. I morned a baby that I had never met but yet felt so close to it at the same time. In a way I felt it disconnected me a little with Jeff and I'm morning all over again, but in two ways now. I know Jeff is up there pulling for me and everything will work out how its suppose to. I miss him and I just hope you all know how much love we have for Jeff and we always will. You guys are an amazing family and we will always love you too.

Krystal your amazing and we will always love you as well, I look up to your strength so much!!

Thanks for talking to me Leah, it was so nice to have someone understand what your going through and it helped me more than you'll ever know!!

I also want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to make those shadow box's and poem for you all, it was one of the neatest experiences I have ever had and I loved doing it all for you! It is so special to me and I will always cherish it forever, I feel like it is a great reminder that Jeff is looking down on me and watching over all of us!
His spirit still lives and I can feel it!!!!

We love you guys!
Brooke and Cary Winget

What matters most

This made me think about Jeff and the lessons we are all learning more succinctly as a result of his passing.
Mimi Theresia Smolevitz

"Despite the changes which come into our lives and with gratitude in our
hearts, may we fill our days—as much as we can—with those things which
matter most. May we cherish those we hold dear and express our love to them
in word and in deed."

Thoughts on Death and Dying

My mom sent me these quotes, thought they were pretty good.

Sympathy Quotes about Death

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.
- From a headstone in Ireland

Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.
- Lao Tzu

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.
- Epictetus

There is no death, only a change of worlds.
- Chief Seattle

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
George S. Patton

My heart bleeds at the death of every one of our gallant men.
- Robert E. Lee

Do not mourn the dead, but comfort the living.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.
- Anonymous

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart,
and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Kahlil Gibran

A man's dying is more his survivor's affair than his own.
Thomas Mann

Dying is a wild night and a new road.
Emily Dickinson

I Did Not Die
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn's rain,
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
- Anonymous

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.
- Ancient Indian Proverb

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
- Chief Seattle, 1854

What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across
the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator 1830 - 1890

I give you this one thought to keep -
I am with you still - I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the sweet uplifting rush,
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft starts that shine at night.
Do not think of me as gone -
I am with you still in each new dawn.
- Traditional Native American Prayer

I cannot know the pain you feel.
I cannot share your memories or your loss.
My words of sympathy are beneath measure, yet
know that my heart reaches out with love to your heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A gift never to be forgotten

We got the sweetest gift from Brooke and Cary Winget. They were both so close to Jeff. Cary is like a brother to all of us and then when he married Brooke, she became like a sister. Brooke wanted to do something special for those in the family she knew well. She was inspired to take a few of the roses off of Jeff's casket at the cemetery. What she did with them - we will treasure forever. She carefully dried the flowers and then wrote the following poem to go along with it. Truly a gift we will never forget! And a way to remember Jeff each day.


Remembrance

These roses are very special
After the funeral they were left,
Now they lay in a frame together
They will forever remind us of our Jeff.

There are so many moments to remember
Sweet memories that we've all had,
But to see him lying so peaceful
These roses make it not so sad.

These roses represent his life
His generosity and his big heart,
And we'll never forget those bear hugs
Even though for now we're apart.

We will always have these roses
They will be our remembrance of him,
They're the ones that laid with him laid that day
May they last 'til we see him again.