Wednesday, October 14, 2009

15th October - Global Wave of Light


Over the past years it has occurred to me how unfair it is that in our society although you can be a motherless daughter you can never be a daughterless mother (or father). Today - October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness day (officially declared so by the US House of Representatives in 2006). It is a day when we acknowledge those mothers and fathers whose much loved and carefully nurtured children never made it to life beyond our wombs. It is a chance to publically share the untold stories of these short lives. So often these children of ours are invisible, their names left unused and unspoken, their rooms unlived in. October 15 is a day when together we can find the strength to speak their names, a day to remember the dreams and hopes that we had for our children. It is a day when we have permission to give tangibility to the life that nestled within our care for too short a time. It is an opportunity to acknowledge that the grief and loss that we feel is as real as the life that was lost.

An awareness day is about reminding each other that we are not grieving alone. Part of the awareness campaign is the Global Wave of Light; we all light a candle as a symbol of remembrance for our babies and in solidarity with others. In New Zealand we get to start off the Global Wave of Light when we light our candles (and leave them burning for one hour) at 7pm. For more information about pregnancy and infant loss awareness day see: http://www.october15th.com/ or http://www.babyloss-awareness.org/

Give voice to your unvoiced dreams – what were the dreams and hopes for your child that you have never shared?