Thank you

So today I get home, have just work on my mind, plan on skipping checking in online and catching up with email... low and behold a few items arrived that we were pretty surprised by.

Our friends A and D and their family sent us a beautiful wreath as an early Christmas present for the front door. Since I had taken down the Fall one and the door had been empty for a week or so, this was a welcome change. (A and D, are you guys stalking our house late at night or something?). Seriously, it smells wonderful and beckons us to the Winter season willingly. We could easily skip the rest of fall alltogether and not 'miss it' this year.

Also, on our front porch was this wonderful flower arrangement from my mom. I think she realizes how hard this week is on us and how stressful in general Thanksgiving is for us this year. It is all too fresh in our mind what we went through last year, what grey/black clouds loom over us as we get too close again to that time of year. These are dark days, difficult days and ones we struggle to adequately handle. For Eric and I, we struggle together, though each in very unique ways.

Thanks for letting us know that Sophia has not been forgotten. It's my saddest thought... for all around us life moves on normal, as if last year never happened and it's rare to have her life and birth acknowledged or honored, so when it happens it's that much more special. I'm not wallowing in self pity by any stretch of the imagination, but if we were... wouldn't we be entitled to a bit of it? In the grand scheme of life, how much worse could it have gotten? So the recognition we do get from some friends and family makes it easier to release the pain and to feel like our loss is understood.

Though we've called you both, Thanks A and D and mom.