Gratitude

Image by Swamibu via Flickr

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. Cicero

Gratitude is defined by the Webster's Dictionary as "a feeling of thankful appreciation for favors or benefits received; thankfulness"

Sometimes in life, feeling gratitude is hard.

Personally, when my children died, I couldn't find anything to be grateful for. I felt robbed, I felt cheated by life, by God, by my own body. Of course, bitterness took over and I had to work hard to understand that I still had a lot of things to be thankful.

I started trying to find 5 things to be grateful each week: less than one thing per day.

I have made a daily commitment with myself: I try to find 5 things, at the end of the day, to be thankful for.

Somedays I find it hard and I really have to work towards my goal. Other days, gratitude comes easy and at night, my list is much longer than I imagined it could be.

For example, yesterday I was specially thankful for:

• Being alive surrounded by my healthy, happy loved ones
• Baby pup is recovering from surgery OK
• My brother found a new home to lease and he's moving his family in at the end of the week
• Both girls loved their meal and ate better than other days
• Big boy had a great afternoon and evening: he did his homework soon and then was able to go to soccer training

I invite you to do this exercise. You'll notice that your view of life will improve considerably.

October 15th - Infant and Child Death Awareness Day

There is no greatest tragedy than the death of a child.

The terrible reality of child death is one that many families experience everyday. It does not matter the circumstances of death and the age the child had at time of death.

That family is facing the horror of burying their child. We are used to believe that our children are supposed to survive us, not the other way around.

My older children died before their time. For a long time I believed that I was alone in my grief. Those close to me, turned their eyes away at the sight of my tears. My world had stopped, why everyone wanted me to move on?

One sleepless night, while surfing the Web, I found the most compassionate woman I have ever met: Dr. Joanne Cacciatore. She grant me permission to translate some of her writings. That is how I came in touch with The MISS Foundation.

I have been given the opportunity to reach out and give back the support I received back then, in my early grief.

I have been a MISS Volunteer for the past 11 years of my life. I found my MISSion: I am the voice of those three little babies that died before their time.

I am thankful to all those families that have allowed me to walk with them through their grief journey. I am honored to share their most intimate feelings and thoughts. I am honored to meet their children through their loving parents' eyes.

I am thankful for the MISS Foundation for letting me give back. I am thankful for the wonderful people I've met, my dear friends Kara, Janice, Debbie, Lissy, Wendy, Kerrie, Tracy, Lorri, Rhonda, Karin, Sinead, Tazzy, Vicki, Sharon, Shanon, Kelli, Anna, Michele, and so many others.

I am thankful to Dr. Cacciatore, for having the strength to reach out after tragedy stoke her hard.

I am thankful for Chey, for sharing her special mom with the rest of the world.