I’ve looked at this photo A LOT this week. It was taken less than a month after Jackie’s brain tumor was discovered. Things were moving fast and there was a tremendously scary path in front of her. I know I personally would have been curled up in a ball. But that wasn’t Jackie. To prep…
Living With Loss
She Would Be Nine
November 11th, 2016Comments: 47
Annabel and I are on a little trip, just the two of us. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be away over Maddie’s birthday, but Mike pointed out that we do our best to make November 11 a fun day for the kids. As you know, we don’t mess around in our family when…
- Comments: 47
- Posted in: Living With Loss
I Am A Preemie Parent
November 8th, 2016Comments: 14
November is Prematurity Awareness Month, and it’s also Madeline’s birthday month. I am missing my oldest girl so much. We should be preparing for a ninth birthday party and a house full of third graders. When November rolls around, I have a lot of flashbacks to our time in the NICU with Maddie. I’m reposting a…
- Comments: 14
- Posted in: Living With Loss
When I was growing up, my entire family referred to my brother and me as “The Twins.” When I was younger, I disliked this. Yes, we were twins, but we were also two individual people and I didn’t always like being lumped into a unit with my brother. As I grew, I realized that “The…
- Comments: 21
- Posted in: Living With Loss
Etched On My Heart
August 4th, 2016Comments: 25
Yesterday marked four years since my best friend Jackie passed away from a brain tumor. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about her. I may not reflexively grab my phone to text her anymore, but I always think about how she’d react to current events, how much she’d laugh at my…
- Comments: 25
- Posted in: Living With Loss
I’ve always been open about the fact that I don’t enjoy the annual March for Babies. I obviously love the cause and am incredibly grateful for everything the March of Dimes does for premature babies, but participating in the walk is always difficult. Seeing all of those babies who lived…it’s hard. Mike and I always have a…
- Comments: 10
- Posted in: Living With Loss
Our Journey
May 2nd, 2016Comments: 14
The March for Babies was on Saturday, and I am still recovering. It was a lot to process this year, and to get through it I just…stuffed it all deep down inside and powered through. I’m feeling the emotional hangover today (not to mention the physical hangover, I feel horrible and I’m just waiting for…
- Comments: 14
- Posted in: Living With Loss
Tomorrow We March
April 29th, 2016Comments: 5
Tomorrow team March for Maddie will be participating in the March for Babies for the ninth year in a row – our eighth walk without her. The march is something that’s very important to our family, to both remember and honor Maddie, and to help other families going through the same thing we experienced more than eight-and-a-half…
- Comments: 5
- Posted in: Living With Loss
