When you remember me,     it means that you have carried something of who I am with you,   that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are.   It means that you can summon me back to your mind   even though countless years and miles may stand between us.   It means that if we meet again, you [...]

To Sloan December 9, 2009 We come together  to hold him tight and lay him down for the night. He is my cousin I cannot lie, but now it’s time to let him fly. Forgive us all the wrongs we have done and then we will send him to the Son. I love him much and I’ll never forget when I called him that day knowing [...]

The Story of a Zebra Mama Once upon a time, there was a mother who cried and cried because her baby had died. She called out loud for her baby to return to her. Her baby could only answer her now with “signs” like the sudden appearance of a flock of white doves flying overhead. Sometimes [...]

A  DAY  TO  REMEMBER   Today I placed a rose on your graves On my way to see your Mom and Dad To celebrate your lives And to thank God for The many beautiful smiles you gave.   From the moment I stepped into your yard The first visitor I met was Grief And thought, this is far too hard.   I stopped at a table Was given [...]

                                      THE PARTY      Several years ago, Gam and I were having one of our “pity parties”, you know . . . feeling sorry for ourselves for our lot in life. We were struggling seeing our children’s friends growing up. We were invited to graduation parties, engagement parties, weddings, birthdays, baby showers. You get the picture. [...]

July 23, 2009…seventeen years removed from July 23, 1992…as Luther just said, “God bless you Drew and Jeremiah!”  For the past two days we have been driving the 1941 Dodge that Drew and I drove back in 1974 when he was just a newborn.  Back then the Dodge was all black and looked quite different [...]

As I sit here alone on the morning of Jeremiah’s birth I am overcome with emotion. How I wish I had brought Jeremiah’s red Boogie hat with me to the beach. Wearing it somehow brings him closer. I’m afraid to take it anywhere for fear something will happen to it. It [...]

Our middle son, Jeremiah Cottle Smith, was born on July 4th, 1977. This Saturday would have been his thirty-second birthday. As my friend Cindy Bullens says, “He lived his whole life in fifteen years.” As I face another July 4th without him, my thoughts turn to the day he was born. [...]

May 2nd, 2009 was a very special day in so many ways. Lori LaMay, a Fellow Traveler from Huntington, NY hosted an incredible screening for my documentary “Space Between Breaths” in her hometown. Lori and I met back in March of 2003 when she attended a workshop at which I was a presenter. [...]

When a loved one has died we feel shock and disbelief that someone of such significance in our life could be gone from this world. The world has drastically changed for us, and we expect that it should be changed for others, too. We don’t want the period [...]