GIVING THANKS

Just twelve days until Thanksgiving and we're wondering what we can be grateful for, especially for those of us who've recently eperienced the death of our child or children...  But listen softly, with your heart not your ears, and they will remind us just how much we have to be thankful for...

 This was sent to me last year shortly after my 36 year old son, Bobby, died Sept. 19, 2009..  It was writen by Sascha Wanger, herself a bereaved mother, but a very special part of the TCF family for many years... Sascha passed away Dec. 2004 and left many wonderful poems such as this one to remind us all how much our children, are and will always be, with us...Cherie Houston

GIVING THANKS
 ~ by Sascha Wanger

I cannot hold your hands today,

I cannot see your smile.

I cannot hear your voices now,

my children, who are gone.

But I recall your faces still,

the songs, the talks, the sighs.

And story times and winter walks,

and sharing secret things.

I know you helped my mind to live

beyond your time with me.

You gave me clearer eyes to see,

you gave me finer ears to hear,

What living means, what dying means,

my children, who are gone.

So here it is Thanksgiving Day,

and you are not with me.

And while I weep a mother's tears,

I thank you for the gifts you were,

and all the gifts you gave to me,

my children, who are gone.

Sascha Wagner

TCF/a bereaved mom herself who died Dec. 2004