Mother’s Day is still tricky. Not just for me. But for both of us. Arguably, the first Mother’s Day I got to be on the “receiving end” of was in 2019 when I was pregnant with Marley. Then a few weeks later, she died, and for many, Mother’s Day no longer included me. Then, 2020 came. Then, 2021. Each with no child in my arms, but with more dead children in my heart. Then on Mother’s Day, 2022, I held our 10-day-old daughter in my arms. So when did Mother’s Day include me? In 2022, in 2019? Today? Always? Never? When Nick and I discussed how we felt about Mother’s…

As long as a parent is living while their child is not, it will hurt. The holidays are especially hard, and don’t necessarily “get easier” with time. – Walk With Me, Colorado Nonprofit “The holidays” started in October for us when we had to start thinking about how we would deal with Halloween and the subsequent holiday season. A year after Marley died, we tried to “reclaim” Halloween. It was early October, and Monique was pregnant with Maya and Zion. We were just coming out of the deep grief from Marley’s death and finally feeling hopeful as the new pregnancy was going really well. We planned to send out Halloween-themed…