Often there are people around us who are also impacted by the source of our grief. Certainly our family and friends grieved in their own way for the death of our daughter. Looking back, I can see more clearly how each of them expressed their grief and love in their unique ways. I am so grateful for everyone who has walked this road with us.
I flung myself to the floor, weeping, alone for the first time since Sadie died
The doorbell rang, our neighbor an awkward witness to my uninhibited grief
She brought a beautiful hanging basket and said, “I’m so sorry”
Family cleaned, weeded flower beds, and snapped buckets of green beans and shucked copious amounts of corn on the cob to feed those gathered
Their presence comforted me
Daddy went grocery shopping
I still have the green bottle of Gain laundry detergent, empty now, but a reminder of their coming together and of my sweet Sadie Rose
Not all of them came together for the happiest day of my life, but they did for the saddest
That laundry detergent bottle reminds me so
Two sisters with small infants shied away at first, but upon my request brought their babies for me to hold
They cried survivor’s guilt tears as I held their little ones and wept for my Sadie
They didn’t want to know the pain of empty arms, but they also didn’t understand why they were so blessed
I marveled at the perfection of their tiny infants and knew Sadie was perfect in her own little way
My niece, then 12 years old, brought a red balloon and asked us to write notes to Sadie
We released it in our backyard, our younger nieces and nephews intrigued by the tears but delighted by the floating red heart carried away into the sunset
We sat around her grave on a beautiful Saturday afternoon
Nieces and nephews laid stuffed toys on her tiny white casket
We sang Jesus loves me
My father-in-law coughed and rubbed his eyes, grief had snuck up on his stoic composed form
My husband looked off into the distance, always far away, I wondered if he would ever come back
But he did, he would come back for a while to find me
Crumpled in a heap on the shower floor or staring out the window into the night
We fluctuated back and forth, being strong while the other was weak and vice versa
Another sister came after her farm chores
We dunked chocolate-dipped biscotti into our coffee until our stomachs hurt, mostly silent, with occasional bursts of detail accompanied by grunts and nods
Together we grieved, as individuals
Together we remember and heal
Inspired Ramblings 