Letters+from+Living+Dead

Could **__YOU__** write a letter to your parents about your death like the following?

April 2010 Dear Mom and Dad: Courage and strength are vital to achieve happiness. I’m asking from the bottom of my heart that you have both courage and strength while reading this, so that happiness will be easier to come by in the future. I have wondered how I would cope with knowing that I lost one of you. The thought has left me empty and discouraged, and so I can’t imagine the feelings that you are burdened with. I will be with you no longer, and I cannot express how much I wish this weren’t the case. You have taught me love and compassion, and these qualities are unrivaled by anything else that I have learned in my short life. As I hope that in future years, you will remember the joys of my life and reflect on the enthusiasm with which I lived each day, I hope that you can now be encompassed with fruitful memories that I brought you. Despite nonsensical disputes that we may have had, I can honestly admit that I am proud to have been called your son. Being a part of this family helped me mature into a loving and caring young man. The experiences that we shared will prove to be irreplaceable moments in our lives. The cliché about only being able to live once rings true in this moment of sorrow. Saying goodbye to you, my family, is saying that we will never again wake up on Christmas morning together; I will never again sing to you on your birthday; I will never again hold you when you are hurt; we will never again create a new memory. Goodbye signifies closure and the end of something special. I am not ready to leave you, and I know that I have much more to give. This horrid turmoil that only exists in dreams is now reality, and I cannot convey how helpless I feel in knowing that you will be engulfed by a swarm of painful emotions knowing that I am gone. Something that I neglected to tell you throughout my lifetime is that you mean the world to me. I am ashamed of myself for being naïve in taking for granted any comfort or aid that you lovingly bestowed upon me. I am eternally grateful for all that you did to better my life from the day I was born. As a family, we are no stranger to adversity or hardships. With each time that we moved came pressure and loneliness. Each move brought with it the seemingly improbable task of re-asserting ourselves amongst a new community. In my life, our most recent move from New York was heart wrenching and devastating. I know, however, that you were thwarted into the same despairing situation, and Mom and Dad, your confidence and determination to better our lives aided me in such a distressful time, and I could not have been more honored to endure this with you. You have many times apologized for moving us during our childhood and adolescent years, but please don’t be sorry. You have told me on numerous occasions to be strong and trust in God to get me through the worst of times. God is with you always, and there to remind you that I will be with you always. I can’t fathom being removed from your lives. Never have I belonged so wholeheartedly to something other than our family. In relocating numerous times, I can’t say that I have a hometown or a place where I am from, but I know that wherever we were together, I felt at home and happy. I felt safe and secure. Mom: We could always talk and you comforted me with warm hugs whenever you knew something was wrong. You told me I was your buddy and that things would work themselves out. As reluctant as I was to believe this, you were always right. With your help, I persisted on through all of my troubles. We always laughed together and for all of this, I love you forever Mom; I will always be your buddy. Dad: We shared the same love of sports. You taught me about leadership and hard work; about enduring when the odds were against me; about loving the game and never succumbing to adversity. These traits will be with me forever and have allowed me to flourish as a leader in every sense of the word. Dad, I love you, and thank you for everything. Mom and Dad, you helped me become the person I was able to be. You taught me and loved me, and I’m sorry to leave you. I would give anything to be in your lives forever; to give you grandchildren, and care for you. I won’t ever be able to show you the great father I could have been, and make you proud of all I could have offered this world. From when I was a baby, I looked up to you for everything. You never let me down, and I will miss you with all of my heart. I love you, and goodbye. Your loving son, Greg Pendergast