(Continued)

That night I made up a card for Mike.  I inserted some pictures I had obtained of Autumn from a memorial Mike put on the Internet for her (for those who desire, the address is http://www.periprod.com/autumn/).  Accompanied by my seven-year old daughter Summer Marie, I went over to Mike's house to deliver the card.  After spending some time in the house, we went outside.  As I was getting ready to leave I gave Mike a hug.  There was a moment of silence, and then Summer threw her arms open wide and said, "My turn!" As Mike knelt down to receive from Summer the greatest gift she could give him, I thought about how wonderful it is that God puts others in our lives. 

And so begins a process in Mike's life.  The viewing and the funeral are just the beginning.  The process of grieving has now begun.  It will not be an orderly process.  It will often times call him into the darkest alleys of emotional pain, and at times propel him into confusion, sadness, and even, once in a while, joy.  But it is a process that he will go through for two simple reasons: he is human, and he loved.  Since he is human, he will grieve, for God designed us that way.  And since he opened his heart and loved his grand-daughter Autumn Dawn, he will grieve the loss of that special little girl.  Anyone old enough to love is old enough to grieve.  Fight as we might against it, that is just the way God has made us.