Recently, I lost two dear friends. One was my cousin, Marcy, and the other, Maggie, who was like a sister to me. Both were the same age and vivacious, kind women who were truly my confidents. Grief stricken, I wondered yet knew I would have to go on without talking to them and sharing our lives together.

I will forever miss them but learned so much from them in our years together. From Marcy, I learned how to laugh and live a positive life. Though she had lost a daughter, like I had, she went on living her best life, knowing the treasure life holds. I wrote a part of what I learned from her in my newest book, The Dog Who Came For Christmas, An Angel’s Tale. When someone would bully Marcy giving her an insult of some kind, she would say, “thank you” and then walk away smiling. What a great way of thwarting a bully.

And Maggie? Well, Maggie could see angels and the spirits of past loved ones and others since childhood. Her stories about her spiritual experiences with her dogs are written into my new novella too. She was a soft spoken person and kind to everyone. She too, had lost a young granddaughter, and yet she went on knowing loving the rest of her family was her primary goal in life. They needed her care . These two women were so close to me and though I will miss them all my life, I know their influence will keep me evolving spiritually and writing about the new lessons I’ve learned.

Once long ago, when I lost my own daughter, Kate, a woman I met briefly said to me, “Don’t worry, one day you will meet Kate in the center of a rose.” I’ve always loved that image. Roses mean love and having memories of loved ones that are forever with us are part of the gift of love from above. Someday, with hope in my heart, we will meet all our loved ones again  in the center of a rose.