For all the Mamas

This post is for all the mamas who have known the deep dark sorrow of losing a child.

This is for the moms who have had their dreams dashed or postponed by early miscarriages, and faced the exhausting reality of having to try again and have had to come to terms with the very real loss of a baby they have only imagined.

This is for the mamas whose babies have come before they were ready for whatever reason, and for the mamas who endured childbirth only to have fleeting moments to hold their precious babes, before they were gone.

This is for the mommies who have inexhaustibly loved and cared for sick children, and then had to let them go... long before they ever dreamed they would.

This is for all the mothers who have had children young or old taken suddenly, by tragedy or accident or unfortunate mishap and have been left with a gaping hole.

I have held my kids closer in the face of your grief. I have been made so aware of how lucky I am to have escaped the immense sorrow each one of you have met. I am heartbroken for you. I have thought of and prayed for each of you. I have shed tears imagining your pain.

Specifically this is for Jaana, Michelle, Meagan, Lori, Renita, Margaret and Jen, but it is also for every mother that has grieved a child. In secret or openly. Recently or in the distant past. You are cared for.