Two weeks from today I will be in Florida visiting a friend (we actually get in late Wednesday night), and I am more than ready for some 'girl' time. Normally I do not get all hyped up or excited weeks (or even days) before a vacation. I'm usually a go-with-the-flow type gal, and it seems pointless to me to wish time away, especially when we don't know how much time we are actually going to get here on Earth. But this time, oh boy, this time I'm having a very hard time sticking to my rule.
The reason for my visit is my friend's charity dinner. Every year, for the past three years, she has hosted this event to raise money for a wonderful charity she has started. This charity raises money to pay for the funerals of babies that have died from SIDS. These parents are in complete shock, and often without the funds to pay for a funeral (who plans for that when planning for a baby?), so she has been there to help many of these families over the years. It is something near and dear to her heart. Her youngest boy, Lazarus Addison, died from SIDs on Saturday, September 14, 2002. He was just shy of six months old. My family and I had been planning on flying down Wednesday for her oldest boy's birthday. When I got the call I changed my flight and left on Sunday. I think I was still numb when I boarded the plane.
It will be so great to see my friend and her family, but this trip is always bittersweet. We spend lots of time talking about "Addie", and lots of time missing him. The trip usually includes a trip to his gravesite, where he still doesn't have a headstone. His mother was just telling me yesterday that she plans to do it; before now it just made it too real. I know she will never feel the same as before, but each year she seems to get back to the 'old' Jenny. It something she struggles with, feeling like she is forgetting him by being happy, but I pray daily that she finds great peace.
Lazarus Addison Jacobs
3/19/02-6/14/02
We love and miss you, Addie!
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3 comments:
Sounds like a wonderful cause. So sad that there's a need for it though. I'm so sorry for your friend's loss.
Thank you, Mel.
Oh, what a heartbreak -- but how beautiful that she would head up such a charity in honor of him. I hope you have a nice time away.
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