More Than Meets the Eye

You know they always say there is more to life than what meets the eye.  I've also heard it said that :

There are usually more layers to every story than you will ever truly understand, unless you've been there and have walked with someone through the valleys and the mountains...the storms and the calm...

And so it is also true about our journey this past weekend to see our grandson graduate from high school....a very happy and monumental moment for him and for all of us who love and know him.

And I certainly don't want to take away from his wonderful accomplishment and well earned celebration.  It was a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving for all of us.

A proud moment for his Mama....











And a proud moment for his other grandmother...his "Nana"

A very happy young man....

 But for my hubby and me there was so much more going on behind the scenes of these cheers and accolades...You see, we were there not only to represent ourselves and our pride in our one and only grandchild...but we were also there to represent his sweet father, our son,  whom I am certain was viewing this amazing event from heaven's portals if that is possible.  Somehow I think he was present in spirit, rejoicing with the rest of us that his son made it to this great milestone...and I can imagine he was telling all the other saints around him..."That's my boy!!"

You see, not only was this a proud moment for us for our grandson's accomplishments, but also because we never got to see his father walk across a stage and accept his diploma when he graduated. Oh, he graduated, praise God!  But at the time of his graduation he was recuperating from surgery for a brain tumor...(For that story click HERE to read about "God's Perfect Timing")  and so he missed out on all the festivities of graduating with his class.

This is a picture of our son Matthew receiving his diploma from the school guidance counselor after the graduation services were over.

Thankfully, Matthew miraculously recovered and was healed from the brain tumor...and was even able to attend college that fall. However, he did have some residual issues with short term memory loss which made it very difficult for him to keep up in college, and so after one year he returned home, met his sweetheart and was married about a year later.  And several years after that along came their wonderful son, Noah, our grandson, whose graduation we are celebrating now.

When our grandson was about ten years old, his daddy was diagnosed with cancer...totally unrelated to the brain tumor (which was benign).  And four years later, after a valiant battle, our dear son entered heaven's gates.  (Click here for that story)

So you see, this whole celebration has a lot of "layers" behind it...emotions that have affected each of us involved.

As a part of our journey to visit our grandson and his mother we also visited our son's grave, as we had never been able to do so prior to this.  We live far away, and to be honest, it has been very difficult emotionally for us to go back to our son's home before this.  Our grandson and his mama have come to visit us several times, but this is the first time we've come back to their home since our son passed away.  And so we wanted to see his tombstone in person.

We were pleased to see that the local fire department had placed a special flag on his grave on Memorial Day, as Matthew was a volunteer fireman, along with his wife who still serves her community this way in addition to working a very busy full time job and raising their son alone.

Seeing his grave was a peaceful moment for us...a kind of closure that perhaps we needed.  It was comforting to us to know that this little cemetery is surrounded on two sides by two different churches...

 which just seemed fitting and comforting to us...of course we know our son is not in that grave...just his ashes are there...but he is residing in heaven with Jesus...and so we know he is being well taken care of.

It was difficult for us to go to our son's home without him being there...but because it was a happy day of celebration for our grandson's graduation, it helped to take away the sting of grief and we were thankful to be able to rejoice with our grandson and his friends and family who gathered there.

            

Loved the pictures of our grandson displayed from early childhood to the present:                                                                       

His other grandparents came from Pennsylvania for the occasion...

Noah and some of his friends enjoyed playing some outdoor games

We enjoyed a beautiful sunny day, lots of good food and fun...and a few poignant moments as we wandered around and thought of our son and how much he would have loved to have been there...but he was there in spirit...

The wind chime that was created in memory of Matthew for our grandson and his mama by a friend of ours, which is just like the one we have in our Memorial Garden here at our house...

The sign "Mattopia", which was created by our older son, the sign maker,  for his brother to put in his workshop (that Matthew built himself with some help from his friends) that was aptly named "Mattopia"...

 His tools....

His fishing rods...

Another special sign hanging above the door to Matthew's workshop...

And last but not least, his "Big Mouth Billy Bass"...(remember those?)

I was also happy to see this special pillow, which was created for Noah by our dear friend Sharon (who is also battling cancer now).  She sent this to Noah after his daddy died with instructions to hold and hug this pillow whenever he missed or thought of his daddy. The pillow is well worn...even has a little tear in it...so I believe it has been well used.

I don't write all these thoughts to make you sad or to feel sorry for me. No...I write them down to sort through some of our own emotions and feelings that were behind the smiling faces, under the surface, not far from our minds all of the time we were there.  Oh yes...we laughed, we rejoiced...we celebrated with our precious grandson...

 Noah is the tallest boy on the back row...this was at the end of the ceremony when they all turned their tassels to the other side and then celebrated together as a class...

And here he is running out at the close of the service...he was so excited he couldn't wait to get moving...

And we look forward to seeing just how our grandson will "get moving" on with his life...he has good plans and goals for college and beyond...he has a good heart and a good head on his shoulders...and we know he will do well.  We know his daddy would be very proud of the man his son is becoming...just as we are also very proud of him, and lift him up in our prayers every day...that God will continue the good work that He has begun in him...

Philippians 1:6

"Being confident of this very thing, 

that He who has begun a good work in you 

will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Amen.