Loving Those That Have Passed - Evidence That Love is Eternal and Undying

Our capabilities to grow emotionally attached to particular people never fail us.  For most human beings on Earth, there is a group of people that we keep in touch with for the majority of our lives.  Most of the time, that particular group of people is our family.  There are also a few friends that we have that might as well fall under that same category.  The point is that we invest so much time in building relationships with these people that our developed love for them imbeds itself in the most obscure hiding places in the deepest depths of our souls.  The type of love that we have for these glorious people with who we share our lives with - those of our own blood or seemingly so - is utterly indestructible.

When death falls upon someone we love so dearly, it certainly feels that a piece of our body has been spliced out and thrown in a nearby dumpster.  Death creates a type of feeling that no one can unerringly sympathize with.  We give our best efforts to offer all we can to make someone cheer up a little after a loss, but the pain from having a chunk of love instantly extracted from one's soul is too unbearable for any near-perfect cure.  After death, it seems the only place a deceased person exists is in our memories.  As we dig into our memories to recreate an image, a smell, or a situation that happened with this loved one, our love for him or her reignites and proves that it is existent, even when we have temporarily forgotten.

Since the aspect of physical love disappears after one passes, love transitions into purely emotional and spiritual.  This invisible love can be brought forth through telling stories, writing, sharing photographs, and more.  I feel that when one conveys this love they still have for a particular person to others through these forms of expression, other people are able to develop a love for this person that has passed as well.  The love that they develop may not be as deep and complex as that of the person sharing his or her experiences, but the sole fact that it can be passed on and appreciated through different forms of expression is outright amazing.

I must share one experience that I have had with loving a family member that has passed.  My grandfather, Robert Osti (same name as my dad... and my brother), was apparently a great man.  Through many stories and photos that have been shared with me about this man, I have honestly grown to love him.  Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to meet him before he passed, but I can still see love for him through my father's eyes and through others' eyes.  I think about how if it wasn't for my grandfather's existence, I would not be here.  I remember all those pictures that I have been shown of him fishing.  I appreciate this and want to go fishing as well.  I live vicariously through these stories and photographs and sense something deep inside me that says, "You are a part of him.  Go on, share his story.  Share his love."

My story is only one small piece of evidence that love is truly eternal and undying, even when physical beings disappear from our vision.  As time passes on, love for a particular person may not be as strong as it was for those that were once physically present with this person, but the truth is that this love passes on for days, weeks, months, years, decades and centuries.  Everything we hear and everything we experience shapes the way our lives play out.  When stories or photographs conveying love of those that have passed appear in our lives, I believe that some aspect within us changes, even if it's the slightest.  This small change could change the experience of someone else, then someone else, then someone else...  You see, love is everlasting.  Love is so powerful that it lives through the dead.  In fact, love does not know the word dead.  Love is timeless, ongoing, forever...