The Compassionate Friends (an organization for bereaved parents and siblings), will be holding their national conference in Portland, Oregon this year, on August 7-9.
One aspect of the conference is an event called the Walk to Remember. "Volunteers will be carrying the names of thousands of children loved, missed and remembered." You can submit your child's name on their website at no charge: www.tcfwalktoremember.org
"Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders, like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby. To suffer is not enough. We must also be in touch with the wonders of life. They are within us and all around us, everywhere, any time.
Journeying god, pitch your tent with mine so that I may not become deterred by hardship, strangeness, doubt. Show me the movement I must make toward a wealth not dependent on possessions, toward a wisdom not based on books, toward a strength not bolstered by might, toward a god not confined to heaven. Help me to find myself as I walk in other's shoes.
(Prayer song from Ghana, traditional, translator unknown)
How did the rose Ever open its heart And give to this world All its beauty?
It felt the Encouragement of light Against its being.
Otherwise, We all remain Too frightened.
-Hafiz
About The Encouragement of Light
I started this blog in March 2008, days after an auto accident that killed my 9 month old son (Sage) and my dad (Dennie) and left me with serious injuries, including a broken pelvis. I write to share my exploration of life after losing my child and to process this experience. My husband, Michael, and I find ourselves in the foreign land of grief, sometimes utterly lost, and sometimes awed by unexpected beauty.
For those who have lost a child . . .
