This is a letter I wrote to a friend who's grandfather passed away last year.

Dearest Louis,
I am very sorry Louis for your lost. I know what a devistating experience and time you must be going through right now. I know how it is to really
want to be left alone and within your own thoughts. I presume right now you are remembering all of the times spent with your grandfather. May these bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart. I don't know how close you were to your grandfather but I know when my father passed away it was very tragic to me. 

I had helped to take care of my father for months and I had to sit and
watch him die. Nothing I could do...nothing I could say...nothing to save him. I remember promising my dad I would not let him die. Somehow, someway I was going to see he got better. But he didn't. I realize now no amount of wishing or praying could have saved him. It was his
time to go on to a better life.

 He was at peace with this faze of his existence. He is far off better now then he was here. He is no longer sick, weak or in pain. I know he sees
me everyday and I still strive to make him proud of me. You see Louis my father was and still is my HERO. He was the finest man I have ever known. He loved his family with his whole heart and soul and worked hard everyday to provide for them.

As a young boy in Haiti he grew up not having much let alone all the extras we have in this country. He promised himself he would not let his children suffer or do without. He was virtually an uneducated man and much of what he did know he taught himself. He was a very intelligent person and if given the opportunity he could and would have went far.

But you know what Louis...he did go far. He had a beautiful family whom loved him back as much as he loved them. Children who thought the sun and the moon rose and set in him. A wife whom was his soul mate and best friend. Many many admirers and friends and not an enemy in the world. 

Still today after 18 months since his passing, his friends come and tell of how much they missed Mr. Lee. That is what everyone called daddy. The neighborhood children either called him Mr. Lee or daddy. Even his friends, older them him called him Mr. Lee. They all had a respect for him. Something very few in this life achieve. He was a magnet of smiles. Everywhere he went he left you with one. It seemed you were always a little happier and a little more blessed when my dad had passed your way.

So my friend, you take how ever long it takes to do your grieving and your reflecting. As the time goes on some days get a little better.
However even for me there are some days when I feel like my dad has just left. When these sad and bleak days hit me I try to remember how better off Mr. Lee is now. And how his being in my life has blessed me. 

I am so blessed Louis. Blessed because this wonderful man, this giant of a person was MY DAD. I would not change my parentage for any two people in this world. For I know God truly blessed me when I was chosen to belong to them.


Also Louis I am enclosing a poem that has brought me much comfort. I hope it can bless you also.

 

"He Only Picks The Best"

Many times we've missed you,
A million times we've cried.
If love could have saved you,
You never would have died.
It breaks our hearts to lose you,
But you did not go alone.
For a part of us went with you,
The day God called you home.
We did not see you suffer,
There was no cure to be.
He closed his arms around you,
And whispered come to me.
For all that you went through,
He saw you needed rest.
God's garden must be beautiful,
For He only picks the best!

By Adrienne Vander Woude

All my honest condolences to you and your family.....Catherine

If beauty was a flower,
and I saw a field of those,
They would all be dandelions,
and you would be a rose.
And people would come from miles around
your loveliness to see,
And they could pick the dandelions,
but the rose belongs to me!

All the races and tribes in the world
are like the different colored flowers of one meadow.
~~All Are Beautiful~~
As children of the creator they must be respected.

Mr. Lee M'ericier

January 13, 1942-August 22, 1997
We all love and miss you Daddy. You will forever live in our hearts.