Skip to main content

My First Mother's Day

I'm not sure I really have the words to describe my first Mother's Day. It wasn't as dark as I thought it may be. I woke up to some sweet "thinking of you" text messages and facebook messages. No one else really acknowledged the fact that it was a Mother's Day for me too. Marty's mom and dad came to our church with us. We went to my parents to celebrate with my mom. We went to the cemetery to see the girls. We went to Target. We went to dinner with his parents. We drove around looking at houses. In other words, Marty kept me busy enough for the girls to not be my only thoughts.
The saddest part of the day for me was the cemetery. But, not sad for me. It was so crowded, like never before. And, I was sad for all of the people who were there visiting their moms. Of course I did cry for my girls' while I was there, but it still felt surreal that I was at a cemetery on my first Mother's Day visiting my daughters. So instead of trying to really absorb it and make it feel more real, I watched everyone who was there visiting their moms. There were a few people who work at the funeral home walking around talking to the families and handing out flowers. The sweet man who helped plan Gentry & Savannah's service was the one who came up to us. He gave me a pink carnation and told me happy mother's day and asked if I was really doing as well as I appeared to be. I told him I think I am. While I still have a lot of sadness, I do think I am ok. I am still grieving, but I am moving forward. And in this situation, I think that's the best you can do.
Me and my girls

Marty and me at church

Marty and the girls. We took this "Believe Memphis" flag out to their grave for the Memphis Grizzlies run in the playoffs. They lost in game 7 yesterday =(

Comments

  1. Beautiful pictures. thank you for sharing about your first Mother's Day. I think you're doing all the right things -- knowing grief is different for everyone, it has its own timeline, that you can be happy and sad at the same time. The best thing I have learned about grief is that the best thing is to just roll with it as best you can. When you feel it, feel it. When you want to cry, cry. When you feel like laughing, laugh. Do what feels right.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finalization Day

Finalization day was so special for us, so we invited along one of my dearest friends who is also a photographer to capture the day. This friend has been there for us every step of the way, not only as a friend but also capturing our special moments. When the judge announced that he granted the adoption and name change to be officially Benton, I about lost it. That is until Benton let out the cutest squeal of excitement. I think he was excited it was official as well!  These pictures were too cute not to share. So, here are a few from finalization day!

Baby Sully

Fifteen days after my last blog post, you know the one 10 months ago, we were supposed to have a call with our adoption agency to hit pause and take a break. After 3 failed matches we needed time to heal before jumping back in. That day, November 14,  I was at work when our social worker's number popped up on my phone. I was in the middle of a work project so thought I would just call her back later. I was putting off having the call to go inactive as long as possible. Because as much as we needed to heal, my heart also broke at the thought of missing out on the baby that was meant to be ours. Less than 10 minutes later the agency number popped up, so I decided to answer and let them know we could chat later in the day. I was not expecting the words on the other end of the phone. "Ashley, we have a healthy baby boy who was born two days ago. He is ready to be discharged from the hospital, and his birth mom has chosen you to be his parents. If you want to proceed you need t

Gone

Well guys, 8 weeks we were matched this time. But now we are back to being a waiting family. I honestly don't know where to start with this one. The last few days have been a whirlwind. On Tuesday (5 days ago) the birth mom texted that she was having contractions and going to the hospital. Being 28 weeks pregnant, I assumed it was Braxton Hicks. Not long after that text, less than hour, our agency called. I assumed they were just telling me the same news. Instead they were telling me they were going to send over the records from the birth mom's last two appointments, but also that there was a note on the records about there being a pregnancy complication related to the baby being at high risk for a lifelong disability/disabilities. The agency said to hold tight until she could get back to the doctor and go under more testing. Less than hour after that called, the birth mom's mom called me and said they couldn't stop contractions and she was dilated 7cm. Baby was com