A More Serious Moment...

One of the saddest things I can imagine is for a parent to lose a child. Even more painful is the fact that many families lose a baby because the child is premature or is miscarried.

Many hospitals allow for the parents to see the child, even to hold it, allowing the family to have a small measure of closure in the passing of the child. Some of the families were already in the hospital, others are often walk-ins. In nearly all cases, the families are not prepared for the passing.

Because of the unexpected nature of this unfortunate happening. many times there are no appropriate articles of clothing or correct size blankets available for the infants. The hospitals do what they can with available gowns and clothing, but many times the small infants are simply too small and are all but lost in the overly large garments. How sad to have the parents see their tiny baby for the last time dressed in such a manner.

Enter the volunteers! Across the country there are groups of people, mostly women, who donate their time and talents to making small articles to fill this need and donate them to hospitals at no charge. They do this because they felt this was a need they could do something about and not for any recognition. They do it out of the kindness of their heart, and because they wanted to do whatever they could to help ease the pain felt by families suffering these devastating losses.

I'm proud to say that my Mother is one of these wonderful volunteers! Along with some of her friends, they create some really nice pieces to donate to the maternity wards at local hospitals. The pictures that you see above are just a few of these creations. There are small kimonos, burial gowns, tiny hats (not shown)and beautiful little receiving blankets. One of the other things they make are small memory envelopes to hold items like birth certificates, locks of hair, and any other items that might be wanted by the family. These pouches are very pretty and serve as a nice place to hold precious little mementos. The dollar bill was placed there only to show the size of these items.

I wanted to take the time to recognise these wonderful volunteers for what they do. We often are surrounded by people who work quietly in the background to try and make life more pleasant and to offer comfort to those in need. These are very special people indeed, and lends credence to the believe that there are Angels among us...if we only take the time to look.

Now, how about a fresh cup of coffee, my friend ?