Child loss, garden, garden photos, gardens, Mental Health

Creating the Peace Garden: Honoring Loss and Hope

I will design and build a rose garden inspired by Jackie Kennedy's White House Rose Garden as it was before a concrete pad replaced the lawn.

Advocacy, Bereaved Parents, bereavement, Child loss, Life, Poetry

When a Heart Breaks: The Ballad of Colorado, a Poem

to think on that day when a shooting occurred in Colorado that, it was in the same school district as Columbine?

Bereaved Parents, bereavement, Child loss, garden, garden photos

Grief: Past the Days of the Anglerfish to Nemo

Grief will change you in ways you never expect. Some say grief is an ocean. A truth exists in this extended metaphor. In the beginning—and sometimes for longer—you live in the ebony depths of the ocean where only the best cameras capture pictures of its creations. Some friends drop off because the depths are too… Continue reading Grief: Past the Days of the Anglerfish to Nemo

Poetry, Writing

Thunderstorm, a Poem

Darling, come to me as the clouds gather. Be unafraid to view the sky. It wants you to look away from the doom and gray. Hold tight and fear not, for the shades of bars on windows, city streets slick after rain, and the slate-snow after tires and dirt blend it color clouds that want you to cry.

Bereaved Parents, Child loss, flowers, garden, garden photos, gardens, Life, Loss, Mental Health, Photography, Photos

How Gardening Eases Mental Health Struggles

When we face an injury or illness, we hope the doctor will ease the pain or cure it. But, with mental health struggles, sometimes there is not a cure. There is only something to ease the pain.

Advocacy, Bereaved Parents, bereavement, children, Family, inspiration, Joy, Life, parenthood, parenting

Bereaved Mother’s Day – Almost 5 Years

In my darkest moments, this is important to remember on today, Bereaved Mother's Day. Mothers, parents, grandparents, and siblings who have suffered through the unimaginable pain and loss will experience different stepping stones in their grief journey.

Advocacy, inspiration, Poetry, Writing

It: a Poem

I am tired of it because I’ve lost enough. “First they came …” Do you know those words?

Advocacy, Bereaved Parents, Child loss, Family, inspiration, Loss, marriage, Mental Health

You Need to Listen to “The Night We Met” if You Haven’t

I must pay a debt of service. I must perform good acts with a genuine heart, so I am worthy of seeing my daughter again, and in my mind, have paid some type of price for the pain she had suffered.

Advocacy, autism, children, Communication, Education, Family, garden photos, inspiration, Life

Ready, Set, Match

I love my son more than anything in the world. To support a dangerous ideology, which would seek to dehumanize children, teens, and adults like my son is not and never will be right. There is not a right or left-winged news station quote. The source material for me to cite is in my own flesh and blood.

flowers, garden, garden photos, gardens, inspiration, Photography, Photos

Winter Progress in the Gardens

Throughout the winter, I have focused on the Winter Garden of Arendelle, while adding evergreens, conifers, and winter interest plants in other gardens, too. When I look at the gardens, I want to see color year round.