Today is the 3 year angelversary of my friend’s dear daughter Noelle.  I have never met my friend in person….we have continued conversations online, via phone and text, but I share the bond with her of our lost daughters. I’d like to share a story with you –

On the day my daughter died, I got a facebook message from a friend of a co-worker.  She didn’t know me, but she had seen my co-workers post about Delilah and sent me a message. Instantly I was amazed that a stranger had reached out and could already understand my pain that I couldn’t even yet put into words and also that she cared enough to message a complete stranger. It was a time when I needed someone who just understood. Her message was real, It was more than just ‘sorry for your loss’, she had been there done that having lost her little girl only 2 months prior, but she had put aside that pain in order to comfort someone else.  I envy every bit of my friend’s strength and compassion, because I recognize exactly how much it must have taken to look over her own grief to try to help relieve someone else’s.

As such, I make every effort to replicate that gesture, because I swear if it hadn’t been for her, I may not have been able to recover. I think about her daughter often. We wonder if they’re playing together in heaven sometimes. We remind each other of happiness and beauty through our little girls and we needn’t speak of the sorrows, but if we need to, there is no doubt that we can lend a listening ear without question or pity.

So Noelle, happy angelversary to you my love – even though I never knew you, I am thinking of you today. I wish I had had a chance to know you. It seems that your mama and I were meant to cross paths and I hope that I can help take care of her when she needs it (on the days and months like today), just like she helped take care of me.

I didn’t take part in all the memes this Thanksgiving season, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot to be thankful for. Everyday I watch others peoples worlds crumbling around me, and I remember when that time was mine…. Even with the extraordinary heartbreak that came with losing her, I am lucky to have had her, if only for a fleeting moment. I’m not always thankful, and we don’t always have to be. There is still room for sorrow, joy, confusion, anger, love, grieving and sometimes yes, even gratitude. Sometimes I need that reminder, and today I got one as I came across this. So as we close out November’s focus of saying and giving thanks, I’ll leave this image with you, in case it resonates.

This gorgeous image was one from a talented artist at Rose Hill Designs FB Page found here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rose-Hill-Designs-by-Heather-Stillufsen/108858199201084.