25 Days of Giveaways - Day 17

CONGRATULATIONS to Trena (I drew your name for the Angel) and to Teresa (I drew your name for the Silver Tissue Holder). Ladies, I will e-mail you shortly!

First and foremost, I want to thank Tina, who is behind all of these great giveaways. I remember entering quite a few of the giveaways held last year and thinking to myself that if there was any way for me to "pay it forward", that I would. If there was any way for me to make the holiday just a little bit more bearable for another mommy, that I would. So, I threw my name into the hat to host this year and then I got a little intimidated.

You see, this community is so full of women (and men) who are rich with talent and skilled in so many ways that I envy. I thought to myself, what will I possibly giveaway on my blog? I don't really "make" things, I'm not really crafty. But what I can do (and do well, might I add) is shop. So here's what I'm offering up for my giveaway.

I bought the most beautiful angel the other day, a Jim Shore hand-painted Angel of Bereavement Figurine. You can click over to the site to see it for yourself, but I don't think the picture does it much justice. So I've included a few pictures of my own:

I hope whoever wins loves her as much as I do! And for a lucky second winner, I also have this beautiful tissue holder. Perfect size to toss into your purse because, it seems to me, you just never know when you could use a Kleenex. Take a look. You could even have it engraved with your baby(ies) name/birthdate, your favorite verse, or whatever tickles your fancy:

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Tell me anything. Tell me what's on your mind. Tell me when the last time your cried was (tell me what made you cry). If you feel so inclined, you can follow my blog as well. Meet my sweet Dylan through my [usually random, yet unusually witty] posts. 1 extra entry for following (leave a 2nd comment).

The Recovery

A former collegue of mine told me that he had a rough weekend, and I thought to myself, "Did you have a hard time finding a spot at the mall?" (I didn't really think this before he went on with his story, but I do realize that I have become quite cynical. Babyloss just has a way of forcing one to put things into perspective, but I digress.)

What came out of his mouth next totally caught me off-guard. "My wife and I lost our baby on Saturday," he said matter-of-factly.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," I managed.

"She was 5 months along," and he pulled out his phone to show me a picture. Without hesitation, he shared the pictures just like any proud daddy would.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but our firstborn died," I shared.

He hadn't known. He looked surprised actually.

"Well, you look fine. How was the recovery?" he asked.

"Physically or emotionally?" I clarified.

"Emotionally," he said (I was kind of dreading that he'd say that).

I had to pause to avoid scaring him, but I didn't want to sugarcoat the situation. I simply said, "Well, emotionally, I'm still healing. I will never be the same. It never really goes away, but it does get better. "