Kelly

Two weeks after that awful day, Abi collapsed following a massive brain haemorrhage. While Abi’s death was clearly a much more significant loss, I still felt trauma about the baby. In some ways, it was worse for while, as what happened to Abi was out of my control, yet I had control over my baby’s fate. So I used my public tears for Abi as a way to shed secret tears for the baby, and for myself.

It may have already been many years… While you know that this time of year will be hard, when you see your loved one crumble in grief after a long time since their child died, it can seem somewhat odd. Grieving mothers and fathers need to open up the scar to let the pain out, a bit like blood-letting of the old days. On the special days we need to release the pain, the love, the sorrow for that one child, whether they died last month or years ago. There’s no real way to reach someone on days like this, and don’t worry that you can’t, they don’t need you to.

Your mind is fuzzy, you feel confused, deeply sad, and detached from those around you. Keeping a colouring book handy is a good idea; however, for times when you need something ‘here and now’ I’ve created a set of colouring pages for you to download and print off. Some are simple, others a little more detailed, but nothing is too intricate as, let’s face it, it can be hard to see the lines though weary, tear-filled eyes. [Note: please click on the link below each image to download a print PDF as this will be better quality than the image.

OK, so Jesus is out and about doing his amazing stuff, healing, miracles, powerful words… and the prophet and Jesus’ relative, John the Baptist, is locked up thanks to bad King Herod. He could easily have said, right John is dead, I’m giving up on this, I’m fighting a losing battle, I considered the ways my own grief may have ‘blessed others’ – the organ donation, the fundraising for Bristol Children’s Hospital, the appreciation and forgiveness of others, the blog writing, and now the books: the children’s book, grief journal and a memoir. The books, I hope, will be like Jesus’s bread – using one story – the story of our loss – to help many others.