Capital-M Miracles
I was up late at night writing a letter to my son to be read at his funeral the next day. Our son had been born a few weeks earlier with what we learned was a rare and fatal disorder that took his life at three days old. I had started the letter with a…
A First Thanksgiving
It was my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I was living in a tiny Brooklyn apartment with a man I loved and had only known for two years. We had gotten married on August 30th, took our friend’s beat up mini-van up the East coast for a week long honeymoon, made it back in…
Love and Grief
The hospital social worker looked my husband and I in the eyes. Our bloodshot, tired, wet eyes. “You had no control over his death. But you do have control over what else will die with it. Don’t let that be your marriage if you don’t want it to be.” This was our final session together.…
A Gift Guide for Mothers Who’ve Lost Their Babies
The other day, a friend asked me what she could do for her friend who had just lost their baby. I’ve been asked this before, so I said what I normally do: “Just be there for her” and “maybe make her a meal.” Here’s what I really wanted to say: Always use her baby’s name,…
School Picture Day
I brushed my daughter’s hair the night before her school picture day. I tried to be gentle. If I’m not, if I get caught up in hurrying the bedtime routine along, she’ll remind me that her Titi, Auntie Meggie, Mimi, and Grandma Sue all do it more gentler than me. Sometimes she’ll say, “Even Uncle…
Kathleen Dawson Clancy 