Called On A Mission

Some people say that when they send off a missionary it is the closest thing to having them die. They are gone, you lose daily contact, and the list goes on. As my brother has been gone we've gone through the same motions of missing him and being sad because we're used to seeing him all the time, but we still get to e-mail him every week and we get to hear from him on some holidays and we know that he's only going to be gone for two years so that makes up for all that time in between. Also knowing that he's serving our Heavenly Father makes it better too.

Well Graham has been called on a mission too. Not an Earthly mission but a Heavenly mission. We don't get him back in two years and we don't get any e-mails or phone calls. We do feel his spirit with us and sometimes we even have very vivid dreams of him. I wish I could say that knowing that he is serving his Heavenly Father makes it all better but right now I'm still just missing him, getting used to him not being around, and this is the hard time. The long, hard metaphorically speaking first year of his mission. The year that seems to drag on, where you are getting used to the missionary being gone from your life. And then the second year rolls along and it seems like it's gone before you know it. I don't know when this "first year" for me is going to be over, maybe not until I'm much older. But I'm sure I'll be able to say in the Eternities that I'm glad Graham left on that mission. That it might have been the longest few years of my life, but that it was just a short period of time and we have forever now. But for now it's just hard to see the big picture and not wish the rest of your life away so that you can be reunited again.