Not Ungrateful

"As a loss mom, I live my life every day, without.

I live with joy, I live being grateful, I live with my heart full of love –

- but I also live without.

In time, I have learned how to carry my son with me more gracefully but every so often, even now, I will feel the full weight of his loss and lose myself in the misery.

It seems unrealistic, I’m sure, to continuously hear the dichotomy of my joy and woe.

No mother should feel shame for showing the world the love, devotion, and pride she carries for her child.

We all stand in awe, as we watch a grieving momma dolphin carrying around her dead calf in mourning, but then admonish the loss mom who dares to grieve out loud.

Let us share the stories of the voiceless who live on in our hearts so everyone can know our journey doesn’t make us ungrateful.

It makes us aware,

it makes us empathetic,

it makes us capable of being vulnerable.

We are our children’s storytellers, we are the ones left behind to live for the lost.

We are the brave souls who live through the impossible act of saying goodbye.

We are not ungrateful, we are anything but."

~an excerpt from Still Standing Magazine~