Baby Loss Quotes
Sometimes along the journey of loss we need a little help. Okay, that’s not totally true. Yes, help sometimes but also often, daily, minute by minute support… When no one is there to encourage you directly, here are some quotes that may help. “Out of these ashes, beauty will rise.” – Steven Curtis Chapman “It’s a happy life, but someone is missing. It’s a happy life, and someone is missing.” – Elizabeth McCracken, An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination “If I had lost a leg, I would tell them, instead of a boy, no one would ever ask me if I was ‘over’ it. They would ask me how I was doing learning to walk without my leg. I was learning to walk and to breath and to live without Wade. And what I was learning is that it was never going...
Read More“The New Normal: A Mother’s Story about Love and Loss” – Flurt Magazine
I write a monthly column for Flurt Magazine and in the spring 2014 issue I published an article called, “THE NEW NORMAL: A Mother’s Story about Love and Loss.” This is my story about losing Zachary and how his life transformed every part of my ‘normal’ existence into something altogether different. I also talk about coming to terms with the title ‘new normal’ and how Zachary gave me the greatest gift: a passion to care for and encourage others who have also experienced loss. I truly believe this journey we are all on can seem unbearable at times but in the end we are stronger together. If you would like to read my full article, you can purchase your copy on Flurt...
Read MoreTiny Hands
There is music in every person. Sometimes it’s a love song, sometimes it’s a lament. Sometimes I don’t know the words to the melody of my heart’s song which aches for my son, but it’s always there, beating away in my chest. I am so blessed to have a thoughtful and musically talented friend. Candace is in a band with her twin sister Karli; they call themselves Drowning Ophelia. Candace and Karli played in the gallery during my latest exhibition in an evening of art and music. It was in the second set they played: Candace was standing in front of a portrait of my husband which symbolized his grief after our loss. Then Candace surprised me. She told me and the crowd that she wrote a song for my family, a song for Zachary. Her lyrics moved me deeply and put words to...
Read MoreAn Invitation to Share your Story
When Zachary died, I felt terribly alone and like a failure as a mother. Naively I believed that babies didn’t die anymore in technologically advanced places like Canada. No one in my circle of friends and family had talked about their own experience. Sex education didn’t teach me the stats nor did my parents or my doctor warn me when I got pregnant. I was not prepared for what happened to me, though you likely can never be fully prepared. Did others feel this way? Our culture doesn’t cope with death in a healthy manner. The mindset seems to be that once the funeral is over you must pick yourself up and move on. Speaking for myself, my journey of grief didn’t really begin until after the memorial. I needed so much in that first year in particular, needs that I am...
Read MoreStillbirth Led Robert Munsch to Write Love You Forever
Have you read Robert Munsch’s book, Love You Forever? Do you know the story behind it? I’ve owned a copy of Love You Forever my whole life, but I didn’t understand the impetus behind the book until my sister-in-law sent me a message with the link to Munsch’s website. That’s where I learned that the author penned the song in Love You Forever after his wife had two stillborn babies. “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” Munsch could not actually sing the song for a long time because of the strong emotions that came up when he tried. He eventually wrote the song into a book that he had intended as a children’s story but to the surprise of Munsch, and his publishers, the story appealed to people of all ages....
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