10 Dates That Trigger Your Grieving Friend

10 Dates That Trigger Your Grieving Friend
image of calendar with a date circled, and a pop up reminder saying "memory surfacing, acknowledge?" with two buttons to accept or ignore.

Dear friends, This is something you may not know: each month, there is a particular day on which I think of Charlie more. Not that I’m sad, per se, but he’s just on my mind more. It’s the day of the month he was born on – he was born in June 19th, so on

How I’ll Think About Christmas This Year

(Topic: Grief, Religion, Christmas, Pregnancy) Hi Friends, Christmas, and particularly the figure of Mary, can be a bit complicated to come to terms with after experiencing infant loss. I’ve written about this before, exploring how the themes of pregnancy and happy arrival can be very difficult for a loss parent. I’ve felt sad, during the

Father’s Day Is Hard For Us

(Topic: Grief, dealing with grief, triggers, pictures, loss, stillbirth, pregnancy and infant loss) Hi Friends, Charlie was born on Father’s Day. This weekend is so, so hard for us, every year. It’s odd, how my mind works. It doesn’t know what date Thursday was that year, or Friday, or Saturday – I only remember the

How many months?

(Topic: Age of deceased child, thoughts) Hi Friends, Charlie recently “turned” 2-1/2. He “wouldbe/is” a toddler to me, but what struck me that day was that I didn’t notice the day until it was nearly over (December 19th, the “half-birthday”). Early on, I noticed when the 19th came along, every month. I even noticed the

Fun themed birthday party

(Topic: Birthday party themes, reclaiming self) Hi Friends! Recently it was my birthday. This being a Saturday post, I don’t want to delve too deeply into the life-after-loss side of things, but I will briefly mention that choosing themes for my party, based on MY interests, is something I’ve decided to do post-loss, as a

Charlie’s Birthday

(Topic: Grief, Birthday, Anniversaries. Picture-heavy post) Dear Friends, Tuesday was my son Charlie’s birthday, and if he hadn’t died, he would now be 2. Sometimes I tell people that it’s the “anniversary of his birthday”, or that it “would be his birthday”, so they don’t expect him to be alive, but for me, it IS

Father’s Day 2018

(Topics: Grief, loss, infant loss, Father’s Day) Dear Friends, The year Charlie was born, Father’s Day fell on June 19th, and it was a Sunday. That morning, after a long and emotional weekend, I gave birth to our beautiful little baby boy, and we spent my husband’s first Father’s Day mourning our first child. I

Birthday Ideas for Charlie

(topic: remembering a child on their birthday, infant loss, memorial ideas)  Dear friends, This year, in June, Charlie will be turning 2. If you would like to help us remember him in a more tangible way, here are a few things you can do: Ways to remember Charlie on his 2nd Birthday (June 19th) Support

No Smash Cake!

Hi Friends, Charlie’s party went beautifully. On Saturday night, hubby was working overnight, so I was alone in the house. I’d been doing ok, knitting and watching movies, but once I started getting ready for bed, it hit me that it was Father’s Day (it was past midnight), which was the day Charlie was born

Happy Birthday, Little Charlie

 Hi Friends, I am doing something very difficult right now. On June 19th, 2017, it will be exactly one year since our son Charlie was born. Stillborn. Died. Was baptised. Everything. His whole life. And I am planning a party. Well, not exactly a party. What would you call it? A get-together? A memorial picnic?