Leslie’s words
It was two years ago today that we brought Madison’s ashes home. At the time, it felt like we were waiting forever to have her back home with us, but it was just under a month after she died until that finally happened. We no longer carry her from room to room like we did […]
I’ve learned a lot about relationships and about pain over the last two years. The oppressive silence and sudden change in our lives have permanently broken my heart. I’ve read and been told that time will heal the pain I’m feeling but, so far, I haven’t felt any progress. What has changed is my ability
Last week we moved our daughter into her college dorm in Georgia. Megan and I loaded up her car and drove for four days almost all the way across the country to her new home. We walked the campus the day before move-in day to help her see where her classes would be. We went
Being around people is interesting. I never really had trouble socializing. I may have been terrible at it but I learned what it meant to have “small talk” and exchange “pleasantries.” I have always been a behind-the-scenes type of person who rarely had to talk to anyone in order to get a job done. When
We had a plan. Megan was graduating in a couple of years and Brian and I were talking again about what we would do once she went to college. We had this idea that we would find a place closer to family. We would have land, be near the water and build a small house
Before I had my girls, I remember hearing mothers say that having children is like a piece of your heart walking around in the world. I always thought that was a little weird and didn’t fully understand it until Megan and Madison entered my life. There was this invisible string connecting me to them and
Losing Madison has been hard enough, but add the guilt on top of it and sometimes I can’t cope. There are many times in my grief journey when my mind rushes back to that night and I see where I made mistakes. I see exactly when I should’ve spoken up and called an ambulance. I
We are nearing the end of our first year, January to December, without Madison. This year was primarily about learning how to grieve and how to push through daily moments of Post Traumatic Stress. We’re learning how to be a family of three rather than four and how to include Madison in our daily lives
How many of you got your child dressed this morning? Did you zip up and button their jeans, put on their shirt and socks, then put on their shoes and tie the laces? You know that one day you won’t have to do any of those things for your child and that time is approaching
It sneaks up on me so suddenly. I’ll be doing something in the house and a memory jumps into my head. I feel like I can’t breathe and I just stop in my tracks and cry. Today I glanced at our Christmas tree and saw Madison’s picture and immediately needed her to grab my face,