For Natalie and Den

It is this grey day where I am, one of those days where it rains intermittently–just a few drops each time–and is cold and damp. Colours seem to be washed away as well.

Natalie lost her little boy yesterday at 36 weeks. It seems a little unbelievable. You hear the news and you can’t quite process it. Especially in light of all of the late term loss and neonatal death that has rocked our community as of late.

Back in high school, three students in my class died in quick succession–all three in unrelated incidents; all three gone quite suddenly. When the first one died, the school arranged to have a grief counselor on campus and left it up to the students to process on their own terms. After the second one died, the school administrators seemed a bit floored as to what to do next. It was already May. We were supposed to be leaving school for summer in a few weeks. When the third boy died, they brought my class together for an assembly and the principal got on stage and just looked at us and simply said, “please.” As if by asking politely, we could avoid everything that happened. It is such an honest human response to wish there was some way to control the universe.

I wish we could control the universe.

Alison from Uncomplicate Me created a candle image for those who wish to put it on their blog. I’m so sorry, Natalie and Den.

I will post the Roundup later. Right now, I am taking time to create the equivalent to a moment of silence.