For 10 years, I’ve carried anger, wondering and questioning of how my son came down with an “unknown virus” that took his life. Sickness, shared at school, was ultimately what killed my child. Austin was a healthy, active, sports-loving 14-year old who was riding his bike around our neighborhood when his airway was attacked. One…
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Safe To Sleep: SIDS Awareness and ABCs
Continue...The Safe to Sleep campaign is an initiative backed by the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to encourage parents to have their infants sleep on their backs (supine position) to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Part of my role as a home visitor is to educate families…
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Child Loss Is Never Funny
Continue...Child loss is never funny. Before losing a child, I didn’t realize how many storylines involve this topic. Of course, most are tragic, meant to evoke emotion. Yet some, for reasons unexplainable to me, use it for humor. I remember being cautious about watching television after losing our son and checking ahead for triggers in the…
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God WILL Give You More Than You Can Handle
Continue...After losing my son, I was often speechless at the things people chose to say. Their phrases in loss stung my already broken heart and lingered, hissing in my thoughts. Though I’m sure most meant well, even as I type them out I am reminded of that pain and it happened 10 years ago. Phrases…
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Losing Everything and Myself Along the Way
Continue...Someone once told me my story reminded them of Job. I’m not sure that’s a life one hopes to copy, nor that I’ve endured quite the tragedy as he, but I’ve had my share of loss. In 2005, my husband and I would barely survive a motorcycle wreck. A distracted driver ran a stop sign…
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Not Just Another Graduation: Milestones in Loss
Continue...In child loss, milestones are sharp knives to your heart. A reminder of what didn’t get to be. Each life event makes the absence greater because you wonder what it would have been like if they were here. And so, this was not just another graduation; it was another milestone in loss. Milestones those first…
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Dia de Muertos – Celebrating the Dead
Continue...My family recently watched the Disney movie, Coco, and the main theme has me pondering on the differences of death among cultures. In the movie, the primary character learns of the importance of Dia de Muertos, or “Day of the Dead” and the significance it has for his family. From Wikipedia, “The Day of the Dead…