I started the morning with a delivery of a beautiful, white rose from my M.E.N.D. family. I am so thankful Gary and I chose to have white roses be Gabriel's flower because the single rose delivered to our home means so much more. In the early afternoon we headed out to get our balloons blown up for the release at the cemetery. The goal was to release the balloons at exactly 2:20p.m. (which is the exact time our precious boy was born at). Needless to say we were the last to arrive after getting caught up in the line at Party City. We had also ran around to a couple of our family members works to collect their notecards for the balloon release.
When we finally made it to the cemetery it took a while to get the rest of the notecards written since the wind was practically knocking us all over. It also didn't help that we had at least two balloons escape since Party City did not tie the strings good enough and we had three more end up in the car until w could retie them with yarn. It was an amazing blessing to be able to share Gabriel's birthday with my Uncle, who was in town because of the birth of my nephew, and some of my closest friends that I've met at M.E.N.D. We were finally able to release our heavenly messages at 2:37p.m.
As usual my eyes began to fill with tears and for a moment I was back in the hospital room meeting my firstborn son for the first and last time. I watched the balloons until I couldn't see them anymore and then quickly sat in front of Gabriel's grave. I whispered sweet nothings in the breeze and made sure to tell him over and over again that I loved him. Nothing could keep the tears from slipping down my cheeks. Eventually I stood and was greeted by the strong arms of my best friend Brittanie. She hugged me as I cried harder than I've cried in months.
After a few moments of silence, I finally wiped my eyes and told everyone where we were meeting for cake. My friend Cherish and her husband had to leave before we left for the park, but I was more than thankful that they were able to celebrate Gabriel's birthday with us.
Trying to light candles for a birthday cake on a windy day never works....but, I had to try anyway! Sams Club did an AMAZING job when it came to decorating our heavenly birthday cake. After we finished visiting in the cold and our sweet tooth was more than satisfied, we all parted ways with a friendly reminder about the sky lantern release that was going to happen that evening.
Gary and I went out for a sit-down lunch, my Uncle and Dad had come to him so he could discuss an amazing and beautiful gift with me. (I will be revealing more about that in the weeks to come) We spent the rest of the time at my sisters house visiting with her, my nephew and the family. At dusk it was time to head to the another park for our sky lantern release. My family members who couldn't join us for the balloon release were now off work and more than ready to celebrate Gabriel's memory with us.
There was a few bumps when it came to getting started, but when my family and friends released their lanterns my breath was literally caught in my chest. It was beautiful! Children that were soaking up the last few hour of play time were pointing at the lanterns and telling their parents to "look! look!".
Gary and I lit ours separately from everyone else. Watching the beautiful light against the darkness was stunning. I cried for the second time as I imagined how different life could be if Gabriel had lived. I could picture him in heaven though, watching all the pretty lights lighting up the sky just for him.
Happy, Happy, Happy Heavenly Birthday my precious Gabriel! You are dearly missed but loved by so many.
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