On Death - Kahlil Gibran

I believe my mom may have had this book when I was younger, because the last part of this piece I have written in a book of quotes from when I was a teenager. I've always loved those 3 lines. To me they speak of what it means to really live life. To really and truly admire it for all that it is. 
In a group I attend just the other day we discussed finding the joy through the sorrow. There's this balance. This fine line. With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas ahead of us, how do we continue to find the joy. For many of us who have lost someone the holidays are a constant reminder that they are not there. Happy families everywhere. Mom's and Dad's together with their kids. Everything family oriented. And here we are with our broken family. My kids without their father, me without my husband. All we really want for Christmas is Mike back. But the joy can still be there. There is still joy in our lives. We can still smile and laugh and love. There is joy and happiness in every day life. How do we balance this happy season with the sorrow of our loss constantly in our faces. It is the great juggling act of grief. Some moments are special and bring a huge smile to our faces. Others are sad and bring tears. Decorating the tree with Mike's ornaments. Moving the elf around the house without Mike there to come up with some crazy ideas. Hanging his stocking up. Putting up Christmas lights without him. All of it bittersweet. The joy of the season hit with the impact of his death over and over again. Many people wish the holidays away when they are grieving. I cannot lie and say I do not. Hell, I wish all of 2014 away right about now. As if 2015 is a magical thing that will come and make everything better. Although I know it won't. And part of me will cling to 2014 for the rest of my life. You see it was the last year that he lived in. And so as 2014 begins to fade I go toward 2015 like a light at the end of the tunnel. All the while looking back at 2014 hoping the light from Mike and the last moments we shared this year never fade.

On Death
Kahlil Gibran
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.