Author: Corrie's Mom

They say teacher turn over is high right now, and many teachers will leave the profession in five years or less. I will enter my seventh year as a full-time teacher, and my 12th year in education after I'd started as a sub and teacher assistant. I was the student in the 1990s you did not want in your classroom because I was diagnosed with ADHD and did not know how to socialize with other kids. I was due to be tested for autism, but this was considered an ostracizing experience for a child then, especially a girl. I am a third generation teacher and author of seventeen creative works.
Bereaved Parents, Child loss, flowers, garden, Grief, inspiration, Photography, Photos

Never Enough Lilies

Corrie's Mom

Corrie loved all flowers, and John and I each remember her different favorites. She not only picked them, but put on a show with the flowers. She'd ask me to put the flowers in her hair, or she'd do it herself. She'd put them on the grass, as the green was the background of a portrait, for me to take a picture.

Bereaved Parents, bereavement, children, garden, Grief, Joy, Life, Loss, nature, Photography, Photos, Writing

Into this Good Earth, Part 2: Ways We Remember Corrie and Each Other

Corrie's Mom

I knocked the soil loose. There is something I have to find, but I haven't located it, yet.

Bereaved Parents, children, flowers, garden, Life, Loss, Photography, Photos, Poetry

The Need for this Good Earth, Part I

Corrie's Mom

Each day, I did something new. Mostly, I prepared Corrie's garden and parts of the yard for new plants where some were that had not survived the winter. I was not ready last year to fully take care of the garden, but here below the mountain, in the sway of the wind and the sunlight, I heard my daughter calling me. "Mommy, come water the garden."

Bereaved Parents, Child loss, Grief, inspiration, Joy, Mental Health, Photos

Corrie’s Visit Made All Well with my Soul

Corrie's Mom

... but for the first time in a long time, my daughter, Corrie, visited me in a dream. Corrie's visit settled my soul.

Bereaved Parents, Child loss, children, Poetry, Writing

No Child’s Word or Whistle

Corrie's Mom

Corrie, It's March and I see journalists' coverage of war on TV. But I also see the cherry blossom trees bloom ...

Bereaved Parents, bereavement, parenthood, Photos, Writing

Stike Out Moving On: Say Moving Forward

Corrie's Mom

There is no such thing as moving on when you lose your child.

Bereaved Parents, Child loss, flowers, Photography, Photos, Poetry, Writing

When the Daffodils Blossom … and a Corrie Poem

Corrie's Mom

Wake me in the morning to see the daffodils. See how they bloom during a time when lovers bring flowers, chocolates, and declare a summer day in Paris on "vacay" kind of love to one another.

Bereaved Parents, Child loss, Communication, Education, Photos

What I Need You to Know

Corrie's Mom

But I need my fellow teachers, friends, and family to know I’m stronger than perhaps some realize. I have an inner strength at my core. It will disallow me from succumbing to any weakness within.

Bereaved Parents, Photography, Photos, Poetry

Snow for Angel’s Feet (a Corrie Poem)

Corrie's Mom

Perhaps the snow falls for angel's feet. Perhaps that's why we do not meet.

Bereaved Parents, Child loss, Loss, Photos, Poetry, Writing

Hands that Betray, Hands on my Daughter’s Grave: A Reflection

Corrie's Mom

But I must, again, find my internal grit, and face the world with what has happened and what will come.