Till Death Do Us Part

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Maria DiGiorgio is a lifelong New Yorker, who currently resides in Commack, with her family.  She is a devoted wife and mother, an educator and designer. Maria is active in her community, as a PTA mom and Girl Scout leader.  She has a passion for interior decorating and loves to garden. She is an avid reader, and enjoys writing about life experiences and parenthood, as well as her personal observations about the world around us.
    Life is so beautiful, in its purest form.  It represents all things as possible, hopeful, new and wondrous. The anticipation and expectation of what might be, is incredibly enticing to the human spirit. When a newborn baby makes its way into the world, it gives humanity a new lease on life.  Invariably, we all become renewed in our own life journeys and we begin to see things through a very different lens.  This occurrence provides us with an opportunity to reflect on, to ponder, to question and to resolve things in our own lives that perhaps, we were unable or unwilling to do beforehand.
    Life can also be extremely complex. It presents each one of us with abundant gifts, singular challenges, and vast opportunities to become great or to do great things with what we have, for others.  Once again, the theme of promise is ever-present. Each day affords us a chance to change the course of our lives, be it personal, professional, spiritual or physical. We are continually charged with the responsibility to live our best lives, to the best of our ability. Along with this precious gift comes an equally profound understanding that at some point, unknown to each of us, our journey will come to an end. The topic of loss and death is one that is feared, avoided, denied and also, ironically, deeply studied and explored by scholars, health professionals, religions and individuals who find themselves grappling with its devastating effects.
    What unites us as human beings is the fact that we each will go through this process, and we can learn and give support to one another, as we do.  
    Through acts of kindness, sharing our own personal encounters and the lessons we learned throughout, along with compassion, empathy, sympathy and love, we become stronger and more resilient.  
    Love never dies! The bonds we share with the people we love will transcend all conditions, all humanity, all time. Death does not hold the power we have given it – it does not part us from the life we’ve lived, with the people we’ve encountered along the way. It does not diminish the good we’ve done, the obstacles we’ve defeated and the imprint we have left upon this world. Through memories and traditions, through love and example, all that we have shared continues to matter.  It continues to have a very real and lasting impact on who we are and who we will become in our own lifetimes, and those to come hereafter.