F2F recap...

Image courtesy of Clipart Of...

Do you call it a success if people show up and everyone ends up in tears? The word success is usually accompanied with warm happy feelings of accomplishment, not sadness however...

I think that having 2 wonderful new friends show up to a stranger's house to meet with others who have lost can be considered a success as we formed new friendships, we leaned on one another emotionally as we all bravely shared our stories, and we were able to squeeze in a few smiles and some laughter too.

I am thankful for these ladies who courageously showed up when they weren't sure if it was something they thought they could do. I am thankful that they opened up and let us in on their most private moments, thoughts, and feelings. I am thankful that even though our stories are all very different we were able to accept, validate, and honor one anothers losses as lost lives and much loved children. I am thankful they took a chance and put their trust in us and the service we are providing.

I wish we could have all met under different circumstances however I am pleased that we now have one another to chat with about our babies and our lives since losing them.

Thank you, thank you both.

For anyone who may be interested in joining us next month, please watch for details on our Facebook page here or check back in on the Face2Face Yellowknife tab in the nav bar above. 

F2F Yellowknife Meeting Details...

This Saturday will be the first get together of Face2Face Yellowknife, a social group for families and friends who have lost a baby or infant.

Jennifer and I are looking forward to meeting other bereaved family members and friends looking for a safe and open environment in which to chat about our babies and our lives since losing them.

If you or someone you know is interested in attending please join our Facebook group here:

Face2Face Yellowknife

or please send me an email to the address below for details:

homh@me.com

We look forward to meeting you!

Her middle name...

When Claire was born we didn't name her right away. We were so overwhelmed and so distraught that the last thing on our minds was what we were going to name her. The next day, after leaving the hospital, we decided that we couldn't refer to her as Li'l Peanut for the rest of our lives and that she deserved a name. So Claire she became and we both felt great about having made the decision to give our daughter a name of her own.

We didn't give her a middle name.
I didn't think of it at the time.
She had a name and I was happy with it.

After time though I noticed that a lot of BLMs referred to their children using both their first and middle name and it made me start to feel a little bad that we had never given Claire a middle name too. If she had lived she would have been given one so it only seemed fair.

I didn't want to make an issue out of it so I put it to rest.

Well, a couple of days ago Andrew told me that him and the boys were talking about everyone's middle names and then they asked what Claire's was. I asked him how he responded and he said that he didn't really and the boys just moved on. I mentioned that in all of the turmoil we didn't really think of it and he said yes and no on his part. In his family it is tradition to give the child a middle name that honors a grandparent or other family member as a way of passing those names down and since she will never be able to pass it down he didn't feel it was right to do so... too sad of a thought. I thought about it for a minute or 2 and then suggested that we give her my maiden name as her middle name. I have always wanted to do so with one of our children (we had actually intended on using it if our Rainbow had been a boy). Andrew agreed right away, he thought is was a nice idea.

Another little piece to her life puzzle is filled (a little over 2.5 years later... better late than never, right?) And now if and when the subject comes up again we can share her full and complete name with the children...

May lovin'...

 

Thank you to Kathy and Cam, Vanessa, Amanda M, Fiona and Molly, Monica, Tanya, Michelle R, Antoinette (x2), Elaine, Nicole, Amber, Angie (x2) and Amanda H.