Missing Someone Never Known

Ever since C was born in December, I have been continually working on a "Birth to One Year" baby book for him. It's all digital on the computer that I'll have printed once he turns a year old and it's completed. It kind of started out as just a picture book, but has turned into more of a story book about his first year.

As I have added things to the book, I have had different ideas about what to add to make it special and memorable for him once he grows up and can understand it better. C has three Great-Grandparents left, one of which we went up to visit in Idaho not too long ago. We took some pictures while I was there and I added the pictures to his book with some comments about our visit. I thought how lucky he is to have three Great-Grandparents left. My last Great-Grandma died several years before I was born so I never got to know any of them.

As I added this section to his book, the thought struck me about adding pictures and comments of all his Great-Grandparents, even those that have passed away. So I began going through my pictures and started compiling them with short explanations about who his Great-Grandparents were who he never knew. At that point something very special happened. In my mind, the thought clearly came to me, "C knows his Great-Grandparents. He just didn't meet them here on earth". The sweet reminder of where my Grandparents are and where C came from not so very long ago was a very special moment for me. And then, like a flowing fountain of water that wouldn't stop, the words to this poem just flowed out of my mind and I quickly began typing it all down. 

Missing Someone Never Known: By Larisa Banks

I feel as though I know you, even though we’ve never met.
I have memories of your life, though it ended before I can recollect.
I never felt your gentle kiss, or experienced your warm embrace.
I never felt you wipe my tears, whenever I felt out of place.

I didn’t learn how to carve a peach pit monkey,
Or score a “birdie” on all 18 holes.
I never learned how to dock lamb tails,
Or carve beautiful wooden bowls.

I never listened to you recite a lifetime of poems from memory,
Or drove all the way to Canada to visit your family roots.
I never woke up early just to round up some cows,
Or got stuck sliding down the laundry chute.

During our mortal lives, our paths, they did not cross,
And as much as I wished I had, I never did meet you.
But every time I see your picture or hear stories of your life.
I cannot help but feel you close and sense some déjà vu.

I know that just because I don’t remember your beautiful, smiling face,
Does not mean we didn’t talk and laugh together sometime in another place.
I know that I am a child of God and he has sent me here.
But before I came down to this earth, I met and talked with you there.

You told me how much you loved me, and how we would see each other again.
Because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, death was not the end.
You told me life was sometimes scary, but I could make it through.
Because I would always have a Heavenly Father I could come to.

You told me that after I came down, there would be things I would forget.
I would not remember the place I came from or the people that I had met.
But even though it was frightening to leave my heavenly home behind,
Your words of comfort soothed me, and changed my frame of mind.

“Goodbye dear child…” you said, “…until we meet again!”
For I am yours and you are mine, our love will always remain.
You won’t remember my gentle kiss, or feel my warm embrace.
But Grandparents and Grandchildren’s lives are eternally interlaced. 

I loved my Grandma and Grandpa Kupfer, and Grandpa Cousin, who are no longer here with me. I loved B's Grandpa Banks. Also, I love B's Grandpa Payne, even though he passed away years before B and I had ever met. I am glad that I was somehow given the direction to add this section into C's book. I hope that this poem, the pictures and descriptions of his Great-Grandparents will help him to feel closer to them as he grows older.