There is something so incredibly beautiful about the parents I have met and talked to who have lost a child to stillbirth or early infant death. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like the light of their babies shines right through them, and I can see it. I can feel it. These parents have been through hell and back, but yet they are so beautiful inside and out.
Maybe it’s their crystal-clear perspective on what life is all about. The fog of life has been lifted, the things they used to worry about seem silly now that they know what matters most. They have had to reach to the depths of their soul to heal from their loss, but they are so much better for it. Their babies have made them truly remarkable people.
Maybe it’s that they know their strength, they know themselves deeper than they ever could have without their beautiful child. They use that strength to leave old, unfulfilling lives behind and focus on making this life they were given, matter. They know they are right where they are supposed to be.
Maybe it’s the way they choose to honor their babies. Some start foundations, some donate to foundations in their child’s honor. Some write, some draw. But they all share what’s helped them. They fight for joy, because they want the memory of their child’s life to be joyful, not filled with sadness.
I think the most beautiful of all the common traits is that any of them would drop anything to help another couple in need. That’s just what we do. We help each other, and in return it heals us too.
Harper changed the course of my life, in a beautiful way. My hope is that when people think of her, they think of light instead of darkness, joy instead of sadness, and strength instead of weakness, because that’s how I feel when I think of her. Her light shines bright through me.