Church helps stem tides of grief

It is early morning and the world is dark and cold. I sit here thinking about the events of the last year, and I am reflecting on the effect the death of my son has had on myself and my family. A tear develops in my eye, and I start to write this letter.

The sound of the phone ringing that night still echoes in my head. The screaming of my wife woke me from a sleep that now rarely happens. That voice haunts me, and the pain in that scream tears through my consciousness and has never left. It is a night that has been relived many times in my dreams and hopefully someday will leave.

With the help of some great people, the pieces of the past are starting to be picked up and put back into place. La Croix Church came to our rescue and helped us with a service that was both moving and very real. The words spoken by pastor Ron Watts and the over 400 mourners at the service were a moving tribute to the power of love, and I can't thank them enough.

The pain still cuts deeply. I have seen my wife and children struggle with the loss of a son and brother. Pain still paints the faces in our house as the first anniversary arrives. My wife isn't the same. It hurts me to see her suffer and break into tears at a moment's notice. My youngest daughter, like me, suffers and grieves more privately, keeping it inside, but nonetheless still feel that our hears have been ripped out.

Eric Morton, Cape Girardeau