 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Once in a lifetime, or maybe more, an individual enters our lives in a precious and powerful way. For some of us, the special person stays for only a moment, For others, longer. For some it is a child that is only a brief dream and then a bittersweet memory But each of us is somehow aware that we have experienced a small presence that will not leave us unchanged. How very softly you tiptoed into my world. Almost silently, only a moment you stayed. But what an imprint your footprints have left upon my heart. |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
| A year. It's been a year. A year since you moved within me. A year since I heard your heartbeat. A year since I saw you suck your thumb on the ultrasound screen. A year. A year seems so final. It's been a year since I've held you within my body but only a second since I've held you within my heart. |
|
| The Significance of Annie |
| When Annie was first gone all I knew was the heartbreak of my loss, I could see no gifts coming from this tragedy, only a life of sorrow. Later, I was immersed in her, in people who cradled both of us until I could truly see her life as a gift. And now - much later and yet not so far away I found that sometimes I forget the significance of Annie, the significance of her gifts and I feel it necessary to replay the tragedy of her life and the tears flow and the questions reappear. Her brief life once again feels like a punishment. But then I see that the significance of Annie is NOT in the pain she has forever embedded in my soul, that the significance of Annie is NOT in my never-returning innocence, is NOT in the yearly painful ritual of saying hello and goodbye to her, although these things will be with me always. The significance of Annie is in the desire she has given me to be a better person, to treat life more gently, to sort jewels from ashes, to be compassionate, caring and sensitive and to softly walk with others on their paths from pain to joy and knowing that I cannot change the path I've already traveled with her I can live with the heartbreak of Annie's moment because I know THAT moment is more significant than most. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| My Angel Friends |
|
 |
|
 |
   |
 |