what is worthy of your blackboard?

I have now become obsessed with reading! Reading anything that somewhat relates to our story, or a story of baby loss. We don't know a lot of people personally that have unfortantly become a part of this "group" so anything i can relate to & not feel such like the "odd man out" I'm all about it! So recently I have been reading other blogs, about family's who have also lost the loves of their lives, their children. I came accross an article, where the Late Elizabeth Edwards spoke about the loss of her son, and and what it felt like.

I have often described the death of a child in this way: in life we have a blackboard on which we write all the things we are doing -- our jobs, coaching soccer, working at Goodwill, going to basketball games, whatever. And the board is full, so when the next thing comes along, we find a corner or the board to add a computer class or a space between other things for book club or sewing Halloween costumes. It is full and lively and seemingly all important.

And then your child dies, and all the things that were so important that you worked to squeeze them in? Well, they are all erased. And you are left with an empty blackboard. Everything you thought was important was not. And the next time you write something on the board, you are very, very careful about what it is. Your choices about what to do and how to do it are so much more deliberate. That is worth some of the space. And putting something on the board, well, it allows you -- in your words -- to function another day. And each day that you find something else worthy of the board makes it a little easier to put one foot in front of the other. And each day you functioned the day before makes it easier to function again. Are there still bad moments, even bad days nearly twelve years later? Sadly, there are. But they are not as frequent and they don't happen in that same emptiness you feel today. Now when they happen, we can turn to something that we have written, something worthy of our time, of his parents' time and we can function through that pain. As you will -- not without [your child], but with [your child]* not as a living, breathing daughter [or son] but as an inspiration and a helper to decide what is worthy of your blackboard.

Wow- I'd say she hit it on the head! thats it!
So as you go through your day, think about this. It's things like this, that give me hope.

Make today a beautiful day.