Today, when someone I know experiences loss,in some ways, they expect me to have some profound advice or answer or valuable knowledge to impart.  I don't know that I do.  Here's what I know.  It is easier to believe in Heaven when you have experienced loss less.  Just as it is easier to fantasize/believe in happily ever after before your heart has been broken.  The more you experience anything the more opportunity you are presented with to ponder it.  I can almost loose grip with reality if I ponder death too much.  There is so much irrational in the possiblities that my rational mind begins to spin when I allow myself to explore it.  There was a time I'd of given anything to die, now I'd give everything to live.  I believe after death there is an amount of time that our souls have one foot in this world and one foot in the next that this is the reason for those "speaking to dreams".  I believe this allows comfort and time for transition before you move on.   I know you can't stay there and life continues as sure as the sun rises.   I know that  I have experienced great loss, but I have also experienced great love.  I know the difference and I know how wonderful life can be when you're living it.  I don't think you can really appreciate the wonders of this life or how lucky you may be until you've experience what it is like to loose everything.  How can you know how "high" a high is without knowing a low.  Almost a cliche, but I have to believe it's true or why the lows to begin with if not to help you appreciate the highs.  I believe you learn a greater respect for love and for being a human being.  That doesn't mean I believe in balance. I know there are no guarantees on how many times you can be hurt or have things taken away, just as there are no limits placed on hapiness.  I know the greatest gift of all is life.  I know that you can not appreciate what "life" means fully unless you have given life.  Argue all you will, I would of argued too before I know what I know now through experience.  I also know that you have to be paying attention or the message will be lost.  I know there are people every day who take this life and the gift of life and see it more of a burden.  I am not one of those people.  I was very dissapointed that my son was born early.  Let me explain.  I was reading how women have strange dreams while carrying their unborn child (trust me I had plenty).  One of the dreams that I read being quite comon is dreams of those relatives you have lost that come to visit you almost as if to prepare the way for the new generation.  How wonderful!  I longed for this experience.  Unfortunately, that one was not meant for me.  I got to experience the dream of my child being half human half cat, not the inspiration I was looking for.  Although, I learned valuable lessons about life through the experience of the birth of my son.  First, the reproductive organs are part of the first things to be developed.  Creation.  Creation is the first consideration.  I don't know what that means to you, but to me and my life experiences that was powerful knowledge.  The circle of life is one of the first things to be assured of, one of the first things taken care of.   And this miracle was happening inside of me!  That still amazes me.  This message was not lost on me.