Counting My Blessings

Well last week we attended the celebration of my nephew Linden's life. It was a painfully sad day and there were not enough tissues to wipe away all the tears. Watching my niece and her partner say good bye to the baby that they were hoping to bring home and celebrate his first year was devastating.

Since Linden was entranced by the nurses green pants and was also drawn to his green coloured toys everyone wore green to the funeral service. All shades from deep forest to pale mint and soft limes were worn on shirts, dresses, ties, ribbons, jewellery and in the Peanut's case in the form of marker coloured bangs. At the burial they released a large Elmo (another of Linden's favourites) balloon surrounded in a bouquet of green which caught in the trees nearby. Some of us believe that Linden's spirit wanted to keep Elmo close by to help watch over his parents during the next little while.

Saying good bye to anyone whom has made an impression in your life is such a hard task. When that person is a baby... I can't even begin to describe how hard it is.

As I did in my last post, I'm asking that you please consider becoming a bone marrow donor, Linden's life would have had little hope had he not had a match.  If you live outside of Canada you can become a donor in your own country. Matches can be made from all over the world. To list a very few:

In Canada visit One Match
In the US go to Be The Match 
In the UK go to the British Bone Marrow Registry

You may be a match for someone whose life could be changed and possibly saved by a donation. Wouldn't that be a lovely legacy for my nephew? Please, if you do sign up and are a match for someone at anytime, please let me know so I can pass that information on to my niece and her partner, knowing that Linden's circumstances helped someone else might be a tiny balm to the pain they are feeling right now and in the future.

As for me I am holding my girls a tiny bit longer and telling them I love them a little more often . I am taking notice of all the good things in life and being grateful for all the blessings I have, including delicious birthday cake and extraordinary hand drawn and stickered birthday cards. It's not every year a Mommy turns ** now is it?