i have become fascinated by the cemetery in the middle of this small town. when i first walked passed i hardly noticed it. the place is currently covered in snow and only a few tombstones and crosses can be seen, but many more small clear crosses can be seen protruding from the snow. small markers of what lies underneath. slowly i began to notice the tombstones., the crosses, the names. every day i walk by this place. i could take another route, but i enjoy seeing the markers, the names, the years where these deaths took place.

today i was struck by one cross in particular it is engraved with the name Sveinn Helgason, indicating it was a boy. upon reading the dates i found that Sveinn had only lived for seven days in may of 1934. seven days.

from may 23, 1934 through may 30, 1934. Sveinn lived seven days.

1934 was a very long time ago in many ways. Iceland was a much different country, the countryside did not have the roads or tunnels available today. Today you can drive to the nearest large city (Akureyri) in less than an hour, if you are not in a hurry, you can get to the other side of the fjord by way of a tunnel through the mountain. these things were just not possible then.

Sveinn was loved enough and his parents had enough resources that his metal cross still stands above the snow, accompanied by a smaller clear cross at the edge of the cemetery.

a little angel as we would say in Mexico. forever innocent.

i knew of another angel more than ten years ago who also graced his parents lives for seven days. his name is Joshua, and he will live forever in his family’s hearts. different time periods different circumstances, but still remembered, still loved.

i imagined then as i did this morning, the parents of these small children seeing their children again in the after life, smiling and the child asking them if it was a long wait to see them again, and the parents responding, “i had already felt heaven, for i spent seven days with you”.