A Special Birthday

04 July 2010

Today I went to a little memorial for a young friend who we lost a few months ago to H1N1. Today, July 4th, would have been her 4th birthday. Her mother decided to have a little gathering at a local park, and send off helium balloons with messages up to the precious little angel. Well meaning people at the park asked as they wandered by ”what are you doing, having a birthday party?”. There was an awkward silence, until someone responded, “yes, sort of, it is a memorial birthday for a young child”.

This little person taught all of us so much in her 31/2 years, more than many do in a lifetime. At her funeral in November the pastor used the analogy of an apple blossom that gets blown off a tree early in the spring. He asked us not to think of how terrible it was that it never got to mature into a fruit, but to appreciate the beauty that it brought to the world in its blossom form. I imagined that image as the balloons floated up in the sky. Today was a cloudy day, but as the balloons got higher a break opened up between the clouds and the sun peaked out just for a moment, as if to acknowledge the special memory.

Her mother shared with me recently that she has started trying for another baby. Oh, I can only wish her an easier time with that than many of us have had. A person can only handle so much grief in one lifetime. While having another child will never replace the one that is lost, it allows a new focus on life and the future rather than the past.

So, as you read this, please take a moment to release a mental balloon up in the sky for a someone you know who has miscarried, had a failed cycle, lost a child, or is in some way grieving.