EM3 Day :’(

Today is, and always will be, a very bittersweet day for me and mine.

June 18th, 2011, was one of those defining days in our lives. A day of tragedy, pain, grief, heartache and loss. A day none of us will ever forget, and one we wish we had never had to experience.

EM3 Day.

Eddy Maurice Smith III was only with us here for a single season of love and memories. Thirteen weeks is such a short time to fall so deeply in love, but that is the nature of real love—to fall hopelessly and helplessly under another’s spell. Baby Eddy cast that spell of love on a great many people during his short stay; now he watches over us all from a better place, and sends us angel-kisses frequently.

The passing of a loved one is never an easy thing, and it doesn't get much harder than when that loved one is an infant. Grief & pain are the flip-side of love & joy — the deeper and stronger the love and joy, so too, the deeper and stronger are the grief and pain. When the loss is due to the passing of a child, that pain becomes almost unendurable.

Today is also Father’s Day — another tough day for our family. One of my son-in-laws is also gone from us too soon. His daughters, two of my granddaughters, can only tell their dad they love him in their hearts and prayers now, so this will always be a hard day for them. (We all love and miss you Mikey).

Which brings me to a truly sweet part of this bitter day. Eddy Smith, Jr.

I know that having Father’s Day occur on EM3 Day is hard on my other son-in-law, and the memories of that terrible day will be forever a part of his heart and soul—but the blessing is that this devastating loss, which often drives families apart, has instead brought their family closer together. EM3 now has two little brothers, my daughter has a partner she can depend on and find comfort with, and I have another son, who I love dearly as well. For that I feel blessed.

I am fortunate enough to have five beautiful children, and as of right now 11 grandkids. As we go through life, we have days like today… but we take the bitter with the sweet, and we move forward. Occasionally the tide of grief surges and we must cry, swim, dog-paddle, or just hang on until the flood recedes, but we do it together as a family. That makes me the luckiest father of them all, today and every day.

Keep your eyes, and your hearts, open today for the angel-kisses your own loved ones send you. Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there, and may you all have a blessed EM3 Day.

Dusty