I began sorting through my husband’s things today. I can honestly say that everyday is hard. One day doesn’t trump the other. Everyday has its extremely difficult moments mixed in with the beautiful moments of laughter as we remember him. As I was sorting through his belongings I began making piles: what would he want me to keep for the kids, what would he want family to have, what would he want his close friends to have, what would he just laugh at and say “Give it away.”?

Sermons notes, books, bibles, clothes, journals, socks (so many socks!).
I looked at these piles and realized that I pretty much wanted to keep everything. My pile was the biggest. I didn’t want to let these things go. They remind me of him. They remind me of memories, like from the picture of the book he constantly read to me while we were dating. I began to chuckle as I remembered a story from Eric’s service…

“A thing is just a ‘thing’.” Life is too short to care about “a thing”, Eric Garland said as he threw his brand new hat over to a few guys in the car next to him and began to share the gospel with them. His earthly possessions remind me of him, but they are just “things.” What will always remind me of him was the man he was and the laughter that could fill any room.

So, I gave up some “things” today. One day in Heaven we will laugh about this and I’d assume he’d say “You finally got to throw away that yellow plaid flannel shirt you always hated.”

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.

#growinggarlands #alwayslearning #fightoverfear @etgarland