On The Sixth Anniversary of Your Death...

James Francis Shea

July 8, 1935 

December 30, 2007

Six years ago today, we saw you suffering and in pain.

We know that it was soon time for you to go.

Heaven needed an angel, an angel full of love.

So God looked down upon you and said,

"Come to me my child, come rest your weary head. 

You strife is finally over, the journey finally won.

So come to me in Heaven, be angel for those who will grieve now down below." 

We surrounded your bed in silence, tears dancing in our eyes. 

We saw you take your last breath, before we said our goodbyes. 

We knew your pain was over, but ours just now begun. 

We know that you would always be with us, but you were gone too soon for us. 

So now, six years have come and gone, and still you're with us yet.

We think about you daily, we try so hard not to forget.

But just like snow blankets over you, our tears now do the same.

What it's like to loose you, we'll always know that pain.

So sleep now with the angels, rest your weary head.

But remember please to always look over us

Be our Heaven's Angel till the end.

~Love Always and Forever

Christmas Memories

Darling,

Christmas is coming, but I feel so alone. My heart is empty and feels numb. It's been so long since I held you in my arms that I fear I've forgotten what it's like to hold you. To feel so empty. You're razor is still in the bathroom with your after shave next to it. Your clocks fight to stay running though Jimmy winds them weekly. Your clock shops are still the way you've left them, waiting for you to come back and finish the work still left undone. Your clothes are in the closet, your shoes still under the bed, the dresser left full of all your socks. Your voice floods the house every time someone calls, and your presence is still felt. Tears still fall on your face every time I cry, and my eyes still tear up at the sight of Christmas cards with your handwritten love. Coca still waits by the door everyday while Buddy Boo still hunts for you. Sometimes I find that even I'm looking for you. I hear your voice and run to find that you aren't here. I look in the basement, the attic, out n the garage, but full apart and cry when I realize that you have left me here all alone. I find myself watching Law and Order just to feel close to you, but instead, I feel dead inside. I play the announcement on the answering machine day after day, but find that I've lost you forever until we are reborn in Heaven.

Heaven's Angel

Today on Earth, we lost a friend, but up in Heaven, he's checking in. Everybody knows him in each their own special way, and we all have memories of him tucked away. But still, it doesn't make our suffering pass, yet, lets it become easier to accept. He's watching us all from high above, right next to God on his great golden throne. He's smiling and laughing and enjoying himself, trying to tell us that he's home and back to himself. But yet, we find it hard to accept. We cry and we shout, demanding to forget. But yet, we are still human, with our hearts still full of pain. He see's our suffering, and he knows our pain. He see's our eyes tired from the crying for him. But yet, even when we are weak, completely worn out and exhausted by sorrow leaving us completely drained, Heaven's Angel appears and becomes our shelter...our strength and helps to open our eyes to see that while his body has died, his soul can't be killed and sends his spirit into thee. And when we are kicked to the ground, and down for the count, we hear him not

in our ear, but in our heart. "I will go away, but you cannot go where I am going because you belong to this world here below, but I come from above. Do not be worried or upset, for where I am going is from Heaven sent, and there I will prepare a place for you and I where we will be forever. And since you love me, you should be glad that I am going to the Father for some much needed rest. And even when I go today, you will cry and weep, but the world will be glad, for my suffering is passed, and you will find your sadness will turn glad, so don't hold on to me, because while I am near, I have not yet gone back to the Father above, but no matter where I am, your love will always reach me. " And after hearing that from the special angel up above, we still feel sad, but no longer alone. Because, while thinking of the many things we didn't get to say, and worldly things that I'll miss come a new day, you all know that I was not afraid, for I knew that my time had come, and that God had decided to call me home to share in eternity and to now be free from all my pain and suffering. And even though we are no longer together as one, our love will never die, for our love is stronger than anything combined. You have done everything that I could ever ask, and now it's time to perform one last task-it's time to let me go to the Father in Heaven above and rest. And when it's time for us to meet again in Heaven's arms, I'll wait for you at Heaven's gates to remove the loads from your back and together as one, we will both take a much needed rest. But until that time, I have to go back to where I belong, and take my wings to become a heavenly angel who will guide you day by day until the time when we are reborn to be together as one again. And this is my duty as an angel from Heaven above: to protect you, guide you, love you and help you. For while you grieve and question why, I'll be there in mind and love, just one step ahead, to help you find peace and rest and allow you to feel God's presence in your mists. And so, I leave you now from this earthly place to take my wings and perform my duty as your Heaven's Angel.

The Missing Name on the Cards

Lots of Love Always and Forever
Grandma and Grandpa Shea

It's been on every Christmas card
On each and every birthday card
The same message grandma's always wrote
For the late nineteen and a half years
Never thought anything of it
Any time it was wrote
Until the first birthday card I got
Where it wasn't wrote
She had stopped signing them
With Love Always and Forever
Grandma and Grandpa Shea
Instead now, they were missing a name
Grandma had started signing them simply from herself
Since you are no longer around
You are resting in your grave
Without even thinking, I grabbed a pen
And wrote your name right on in
It's a source of comfort
To help ease the pain
But it still isn't the same
It's on every birthday card
The past two Christmas cards
It's even on my graduation card
But it doesn't change a thing
IT's just another reminder of the horrible change
Those are still birthdays you missed
Christmases where you weren't there
And the first of many graduations you've missed
But in the end
As long as Grandma is still signing cards
I'll always see both your names on them
So you're no longer
The Missing Name of the Cards