A Tangible Remembrance

My sister-in-law Amy just sent this StarTribune article to me today. You may have noticed their link (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep) on my blog. Amy introduced me to this wonderful network of photographers a couple of years ago.

I was 14 weeks pregnant when we lost our third child. Being an avid scrapbooker, I had already begun my baby's album. When we discovered the sad news at a routinue OB appointment, I was devastated. Friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues reached out to us during that time. Their kindness touched me deeply and I saved every email and card. I also took pictures of every flower, book, and meal that was delivered. Instead of trashing my baby's album, I used it to pour out my grief. It holds the only photos of my child (from the ultrasound) and is a tangible remembrance of that brief life and two others that followed.

When a loved one dies, we pour over their photos; it is the only way to hold them close. When our memories fade, we often use photos to help us recall special moments and details. We don't simply "forget" they ever existed.

Whether a woman carried a child for four, six, or eight months - she spent every waking and sleeping moment with that child. Hopes, dreams, and memories were made. What a wonderful gift these photographers offer - a tangible remembrance.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth;
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16