Walking Shoes

I found this on the Compassionate Friends Facebook page. After 22 years my shoes fit pretty well. Some days they still hurt and some days I hate them but mostly now they walk in sweet memory of my little brown-eyed boy.  We will celebrate the Runner's birthday next week on Family Night eating Rice-A-Roni with hamburg, bean beans and Fish Cupcakes. It will be good. I will miss mine who are away more than the one who is gone away.

I hate my shoes. 
Each day I wear them, and each day I wish I had another pair. 
Some days my shoes hurt so bad that I do not think I can take another step. 
Yet, I continue to wear them. 
I get funny looks wearing these shoes. 
They are looks of sympathy. 
I can tell in others eyes that they are glad they are my shoes and not theirs. 
They never talk about my shoes. 
To learn how awful my shoes are might make them uncomfortable. 
To truly understand these shoes you must walk in them. 
But, once you put them on, you can never take them off. 
I now realize that I am not the only one who wears these shoes. 
There are many pairs in this world. 
Some woman are like me and ache daily as they try and walk in them. 
Some have learned how to walk in them so they don't hurt quite as much.
Some have worn the shoes so long that days will go by before they think about how much they hurt. 
No woman deserves to wear these shoes. 
Yet, because of these shoes I am a stronger woman. 
These shoes have given me the strength to face anything. 
They have made me who I am. 
I will forever walk in the shoes of a woman who has lost a child...
Author Unknown   

Following the Shepherd - Pat