Sawyer and the strawberry
December 28, 2017 at 4:58 pm | Posted in Grief, life after loss, Love, Sawyer | 6 CommentsTags: Buddha, death of a child, deathiversary, love
December 26th is the date on Sawyer’s death certificate. I am not sure when exactly he died but Evan and I kissed him good night for the last time on December 25th.
No one ever really knows how long we have between birth and death. I am very thankful for the time we did have with Sawyer.
Buddhist story:
“A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!”
There are many interpretations of this story. I like to think of the strawberry as the present. One of the tigers is birth and the other death.
I wish I had more time to spend with Sawyer. If I had known that time (and the tiger of death) were present and against us that Christmas night when we kissed him goodnight, I am sure that I would have never stopped kissing him. Love and miss you sweet Sawyer.
Hope
April 18, 2017 at 2:18 pm | Posted in life after loss, Love | 4 CommentsTags: child loss, death of a baby, hope, love, March of Dimes, running, signs, thoughts
Some days hope is hard to find. On my running route, I have discovered a few hints that there is always hope. One time I stumbled upon this sign of hope:
And, on another run I came across this one:
The signs are on telephone poles but that is okay with me. I will take hope however and wherever I can find it.
On my run the other day, I noticed that one of the signs had been painted.
I like to believe that I can still catch a glimpse of hope even though it is now harder to find.
Possibilities and Playing Pokémon
March 20, 2017 at 2:22 pm | Posted in Grief, life after loss | 5 CommentsTags: family, lemonade stand, love, March of Dimes, perspective, Pokemon Go, thoughts, ways to honor the memory of your child
Yesterday turned into an unexpected mix of spending time with all 4 of my children.
The day started out with Evan and I dropping off the twins at Sunday school and then going over to the cemetery to visit Jake and Sawyer.
The twins (and I) play Pokémon Go. The cemetery happens to have a crazy amount of Pokémon stops – which is where the balls to catch Pokémon are collected. Below is a picture of the cemetery. The blue squares are all Pokémon stops.
The odd thing to me is that apparently some people come to the cemetery just to play Pokémon. What might be even more odd is that I like the fact that where Jake and Sawyer are buried is right near a particular Pokémon stop (see below). I like to think in some cosmic way that Jake and Sawyer are playing the same game that the twins and I are playing.
In addition to playing Pokémon Go, the twins decided that yesterday would be a great day for a Lemonade Stand to remember their brothers. They set one up at the end of our driveway and raised money and awareness for the March of Dimes.
Would you like to join us in our efforts? You can just click on this link and then click the “Walk with Me” button to join our Walk Team. If that is not in the cards (which we know for most of you it is not), consider whether you can support us in our fundraising efforts. Every dollar counts, and every dollar is matched by the hospital where our kids were born, so $1 donated = $2 to the March of Dimes. Click on this link and click the “Donate Now” button. Thanks for your support and any donation you can make!
“Don’t cry because it is over. Smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss
November 17, 2016 at 1:52 pm | Posted in life after loss, Love | 7 CommentsTags: #WorldPrematurityDay, Georgia Gives Day, gratitude, happy birthday, hope, life after loss, March of Dimes, not a dark day
Sawyer,
Today is World Prematurity Day so I am wearing purple in memory and in honor of your oldest brother Jake and all the other babies born into this world too soon. Today is Georgia Gives Back day so I just drove food to a shelter and will be making donations in honor of you and your siblings.
Today is also the day that we welcomed you to the world! Today I want to celebrate wonderful little you. Today I am going to read all the congratulations emails we received after you were born because last night I discovered your Dad kept them all (and I have never seen them). Today I will give presents to your brother and sister for your birthday because there do not seem to be any rules on how to celebrate your 7th birthday without you – so, I am trying to make up my own. Today I will try to smile, not to cry (but please forgive me if I do).
Today you gave me the gift of being your mama and for that I am forever grateful to you my sweet Sawyer.
Happy Halloween
October 31, 2016 at 4:28 pm | Posted in life after loss, Love | 2 CommentsTags: Halloween, life after loss, love, twins
Happy Halloween from Mudkip (a type of Pokémon) and the Friendly Polka Dotted Monster!
“One joy shatters a hundred griefs.”
– – Chinese Proverb
Wave of Light 2016
October 18, 2016 at 7:00 pm | Posted in life after loss, Love | 5 CommentsTags: Atlanta Walk to Remember, child loss, grief, hope, Jake, life after loss, Sawyer, Wave of Light - October 15th
We lit our candles on October 15.
This year and last year I made the candles we lit. I made candles that were given out at the Atlanta Walk to Remember. There is not much I can do to lessen the pain that a bereaved parent carries throughout their lifetime. I am hoping that the candle makes their path a little brighter (even if it is only for a little while).
Wave of Light
October 14, 2016 at 4:44 pm | Posted in life after loss, Love | 4 CommentsTags: baby loss, death of a baby, hope, Wave of Light - October 15th
Tomorrow is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. As part of the day, everyone is invited to light a candle at 7 pm in all time zones, all over the world. The idea is that if everyone lights a candle at 7 pm and keeps it burning for at least 1 hour, there will be a continuous wave of light.
Today and every day I miss Jake and Sawyer but tomorrow at 7 pm we will light candles. This year I will once again hope that the light from all the candles will make the darkness of the unknown a little brighter.
Families take ‘walk to remember’ to honor children they’ve lost
October 4, 2016 at 11:32 am | Posted in life after loss, Love | 4 CommentsTags: Atlanta Walk to Remember, ways to honor the memory of your child
Walk in Fulton County honors children lost.
Source: Families take ‘walk to remember’ to honor children they’ve lost
Click on the picture above to see the local news coverage of the Atlanta Walk to Remember. Jake’s name is read in the first sentence of the story.
The mention of my child’s name may bring tears to my eyes, but it never fails to bring music to my ears. If you are really my friend, let me hear the beautiful music of his name. It soothes my broken heart and sings to my soul. — Author Unknown
dreams & denial
September 12, 2016 at 9:30 pm | Posted in after death?, Death, Grief, Jake, life after loss, Love | 8 CommentsTags: Buddy, child loss, dark days, death, death of a pet, grief, life after loss, thoughts
August, as I have written about in the past, is filled with happy as well as hard days. This year August started out with our dog, Buddy, dying. I wrote about how I was in denial about his death and wondered how long I could stay there.
On and off throughout the month I was haunted by a dream where I could not find Jake. I would try to go back to sleep in hopes that I could go back to the dream and find him. One weekend I slept as much as possible determined to search for and find Jake in my dreams. It did not work. If I had the dream about Jake I always awoke without finding him.
Last night I finally found Jake in my dreams – he was with Buddy. So, to answer my own question about “how long can I stay in denial?” it seems like the answer is about a month. I sure do miss them both.
“When you come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.” – author unknown
Eleven
August 14, 2016 at 6:18 pm | Posted in Grief, Jake, life after loss, Love | 7 CommentsHappy Birthday sweet baby Jake – we miss you and love you today and always.
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