Service of Remembrance

What a wonderful, yet sad day.  Today my husband and I along with my wonderful parents attended a Service of Remembrance which was put on by the support group we are going to, HAND. (Helping After Neonatal Death). It is for anyone who has lost a child at any time during pregnancy up to 1 year of life. We have met some wonderful people in our particular local chapter and a small group of us were able to go to this very special event. It was held in Saratoga at Skyline Park. It was about 2 hours away so not everyone in our group was able to go. I am so glad and grateful that we were able to. 

First of all the location was absolutely beautiful, I had never even heard of this park until this event, it is up in the mountains just a few miles outside San Jose. So amazing that just a short distance from a hustling city there could be such a beautiful place.  There was picnic tables set up with white table clothes, and a stage set up for speakers and poetry readings. As we arrived we were given tiny ribbons with a little rose on a pin with our child's name printed on them to wear during the service. We were also given a little memento and a candle to bring home with us. Let me remind you all that this is a completely free event run totally by volunteers, what an amazing gift to us, the grieving families!

Then the program began, with opening remarks by the HAND president and then the first music selection was played.  Throughout the program there were poems read, some written by professionals but mostly by other grieving parents who had written them in honor of their child/ren.  There were so many moments that resonated with me, its hard to pick only a few. However there are a few I must share with you particularly the musical selections. At the service they only played the songs there were no visuals but thanks to the wonderful world of YouTube I was able to find video versions for the songs. There was not a dry eye in the place during these songs so make sure you have tissue handy.

This first song is called Precious Child by Karen Taylor-Good









The other song that I really loved is called The Promise by Cindy Claussen.









Cindy is actually the writer of this song and also wrote a book for bereaved parents which is talked about at the end of the video. What is amazing is we have this book, it was given to us in the weeks after Ethan's death by a family friend and it is beautiful. I actually carried it in my purse for about a month so I could take it out and read it when I needed to.

So if these videos don't touch your heart, well then you are made of stone! Please feel free to share them within your own blog/facebook/email communities with anyone you like. Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers at HAND who helped make such a beautiful service for all of us and our babies. Love and Hugs to all the baby lost families who were there remembering with us. So sorry we had to meet this way but so grateful to have you all there with us, grieving and supporting one another. My heart is full tonight. To my little boy, Ethan and our first little angel baby Alexis, Mommy and Daddy love and miss you so much. We will fly with you someday!