Pam is an Angel Girl Now!

I am saddened to hear of Pam's passing away tonight! Links are below. I always called Pam "Angel Girl" because she was just an angel to all of us. So inspiring & full of life & cheerful. I hope she would not mind me including this picture in my posting, but if someone reading this did not know about Pam I want you to see who this INCREDIBLE spirit was! Look at that smile! That is what she would want us all to remember! I also wanted to let you know she has two beautiful children who I know are in much pain tonight. Pam loved them with all her heart & I know her first thoughts would be of their welfare.

I didn't think this would happen so soon with Pam's spirit being such a strong one. She has fought this battle of lung cancer so bravely! My aunt had gone through this about 15 yrs ago now.  

Pam inspired many of us in JLand & JLand will never be the same without her.  If you never read Pam's journal, I really suggest you start from the beginning & read an entry a day & you will understand why so many of us have been so blessed to have her in our lives, even if just virtually.

You know I was just thinking of her in heaven now & being able to look down on all of us & actually getting to realize how many people she gave joy to & seeing all of us in JLand! Seeing what we look like & where her words spread across the globe. That brings a smile through the tears.

Pam's First Journal

Pam's New Journal

Announcement on her Passing

I also want to share these two pieces with all of you at this time. The first was read at one of my relatives last spring & the second at my colleague's daughter's funeral last fall. She had died tragically in the Chicago train crash.

1st Piece:

The Water Bug Story

Down below the surface of a quiet pond lived a little colony of water bugs. They were a happy colony, living far away from the sun. For many months they were very busy, scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of the pond. They did notice that every once in a while one of their colony seemed to lose interest in going about with its friends. Clinging to the stem of a pond lily, it gradually moved out of sight and was seen no more.

"Look!" said one of the water bugs to another, "one of our colony is climbing up the lily stalk. Where do you think she's going?" Up, up, up it slowly went... Even as they watched, the water bug disappeared from sight. It's friends waited and waited but it didn't return...

 

"That's funny!" said one water bug to another...

 

" Wasn't she happy here?" asked a second...

 

"Where do you suppose she went?" wondered a third...

 

No one had an answer. They were greatly puzzled.

 

Finally one of the water bugs gathered its friends together. "I have an idea. The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk must promise to come back and tell us where he or she went and why." "We promise" they said solemnly.

 

One spring day not long after the very water bug who had suggested the plan found himself climbing up the lily stalk. Up, up, up he went. Before he knew what was happening, he had broken through the surface of the water and fallen into the broad and free lily pad above.

 

When he awoke, he looked about with surprise. He couldn't believe what he saw. A startling change had come over his old body. His movement revealed four silver wings and a long tail.

 

Even as he struggled, he felt an impulse to move his wings... The warmth of the sun soon dried the moisture from his new body. He moved his wings again and suddenly found himself above the water.

 

He had become a dragonfly. Swooping and dipping in great curves, he flew through the air. He felt exhilarated in the new atmosphere.

 

By and by the new dragonfly landed happily on a lily pad to rest. Then it was that he chanced to look below to the bottom of the pond. Why, he was right above his old friends, the water bugs! There they were scurrying around, just as he had been doing some time before.

 

Then the dragonfly remembered the promise. Without thinking, the dragonfly darted down.

 

Suddenly he hit the surface of the water and bounced away. Now that he was a dragonfly, he could no longer go into the water...

 

"I can't return!" he said in dismay. "At least I tried. But I can't keep my promise. Even if I could go back, not one of the water bugs would know me in my new body. I guess I'll just have to wait until they become dragonflies too.

 

Then they'll understand what has happened to me, and where I went."

 

And the dragonfly winged off happily into its wonderful new world of sun and air...

2nd Piece:

There is a story told of two men, one old, one young. One day, the young man was showing people how absolutely beautiful and perfect his heart was. And it was as beautiful and perfect as the day he was born.

When the old man happened by this young one, he shook his head. “Oh, young one,you believe your heart is perfect, but have you loved? Have you been loved?”

As the young man contemplated this, the old man removed his own heart to show those who were gathered. His heart was gnarly. There were huge chunks missing, pieces sewn in haphazardly, little pieces/big pieces all together in one big lump of a heart.

“You see, young man, all of the pieces that are missing are pieces that I gave to people when I loved them. The bigger the piece, the bigger the love.”

“The same goes for the pieces sown in; those are from people who have loved me.”

“Thus, my heart is greater than yours, because I have loved.”

The young man fell to his feet, tearing a chunk from his heart, pleading with the old man to take it. The old man took a chunk from his own heart to give the boy. Thus, a friendship was born.

I think of Pam with a huge heart from all the people she touched & every one of us has pieces of hers in ours! :-)