Melodies in the Key of Life

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?

Shayna’s mommy eyes shone upon the greatest treasure she had ever known. His face, Ben’s beautiful face, looked back at her with his handlebar mustache, round laughing face. The silver frame surrounded the portrait of her husband. He was so young. They had just celebrated his 28th birthday when this picture was taken.
“Mommy! Where’s daddy?”
Shayna paused in the unpacking. “He’s in heaven, Sweetie.”
“Okay.” Reece was only three years old, and yet he was so much like his father, from the round face topped with blonde curls to the dimples that tugged at the corners of his mouth. Even the way he spoke was stated with the same mannerisms and intonations as her man. Shayna pulled another framed photo from the box. Tears welled in her eyes to see her two men in matching cabbie hats and laughing into each other’s face. “Mommy! When will daddy be home?”
“He can’t come home anymore, honey.” From the fullest and most broken of hearts, Shayna managed to find everyday blessings in watching her son grow into the man his father once was. If Shayna did not have this little mini replica of his father, she did not know how she could have gotten up in the morning to look for a reason to go on living. But she did have this little boy, and they were on a new journey. Together, they found something sweet, blessed and breathtakingly beautiful in that journey.
Today, she and Reece were unpacking the treasures she and her now-gone Ben had spent happy days collecting. In this new home, the joys could begin to outdistance the pain. Her eyes sparkled with limitless wonder as she watched her little one helping with placement of their prized possessions. She pulled up mental snapshots of her and Ben on their wedding day and through the swift journey through their short married life together. Even though she still grieved -- a love that strong cannot be suppressed for long -- Shayna thanked God for every moment she enjoyed with Ben and the little boy that was created from that love.
Shayna pulled her little man close. “Do you like this new place? We get to choose how our life here will be.”
“Okay.” Reece slapped his little hands on his mother’s face and placed a great big sloppy smack on her mouth. “Hi, ya!”
“I love you too, sweetie.” Shayna giggled.
Today, Shayna was putting her choice into play. This choice was not one of her choosing. She just knew that her future would be more powerful as a single mom and embrace whatever the future brought if she actively chose to accept her life, every last bit of it, and to accept the cards that were dealt. Ben would not have chosen this outcome either, but Ben was a man filled with love for all humans. Shayna would tell the stories to Reece so that he knew how fabulous his father was. “Reece, do you know what daddy always said about you?”
“I love you.”
“Yes, sweetie, he sure did. He also said that you were the greatest accomplishment in his life.”
“Okay. I’m hungry.”




~~Image #4000 Sharing Restricted~~