SHARE Atlanta

Dear Group Members,

It has been a busy last of April! Our "Walk to Remember" for MOD's Walk America was incredibly successful! And, the Grief Conference was well attended by around 150 "First Responders" (nurses, chaplains, social workers, etc). Thanks to all of our wonderful group members who helped to make a positive outreach in both of these activities!

MODs "Walk to Remember" - Walk America on April 22, 2006

$31712.71

that's right,

$31712.71

Again, I'm speechless!!! Just like Tamera Pfeifer-Partiss said, "SHARE Atlanta ROCKS!!" By the way she is "our" TOP fund-raiser with a GRAND TOTAL of $6930.00!! ..Cindy

Grief Conference - April 27, 2006

The Grief Conference was well attended and I was moved to see many of the nurses that we are in contact with there. There were lots of hugs and supportive thoughts and ideas shared all day. My thanks to Tammy White, Lynne Anderson, and Leah Perry for coming and helping to represent SA. We gave two "effective grief" sessions in the afternoon. Tammy and I also spent about an hour with the keynote speaker, Charlie Walton. A wonderful, gentle man who shared the death of his two grown sons and subsequent healing. It is a positive to see caregivers actively seek a better understanding of the grief process and how they might better support the grieving family.

Notes about our Meetings...

I appreciated some of your notes to me about how much last month's meeting meant to you. Future Choices is a difficult topic to discuss, but so needed. Thinking about pre-subsequent pregnancy consultations is a must. I thank everyone for your thoughtful comments and support on this topic.

This month's topic is "The Significance of You and Your Baby."

I love this topic because people share their mementos and poems, and we share how important it is to give ourselves "permission to grieve" these special little ones. This is especially timely during the month of May with Mother's Day. We also usually talk about our relationship with our husband. In the Women's Group, I am hoping that we will make time to teach everyone how to make blankets... So parents in the hospital will have a special gift from SA to give them moments to "parent" their wee baby.

In this month's meeting, several relationship issues are touched on.

The most important ones are the one with our baby and ourselves. When we give ourselves "permission" to recognize and honor our relationship to our wee baby (no manner how far along in our pregnancy we were), we open the door for ourselves and for *society* to honor these special children. Our babies become "important" and future babies will have more medical support for getting here safely. We, their parents, *must* bring *awareness* to society - because we have felt the pain of their loss. We are not alone in this mission, *together* we can make a difference.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a very difficult time for our parents. Mothers, please remember that you are a very special mommy to a very dear baby. There are ideas for approaching this day on our website and coming to the forum to share is always an option. We shared some of these options last month at our meeting. So, keep these links in mind:

Mother's Day Link

Coping Suggestions...Mementos, Ideas, etc. (Kim's bracelets and Dana's Portraits are a special ways to honor Mother's Day.)

Our forum

Meetings...

Days of and Directions to our meetings - all meet from 7 to 9 pm.

Robin (Cascade Methodist meeting), Tammy (Acworth-Kennesaw meeting), Karen (Riverdale meeting) and I (Women's meeting) extend our wishes for you to join us as you can. We understand the need to share and express feelings. We each have experienced the pain that you are moving through and wish to support you as we can.

Remember, too, it is never too late to remember, grieve and heal. We have had parents join us years after their loss. For various reasons, they hadn't had the support to work through their grief (or needed to continue to work through their feelings), and they realized they wanted to heal. Last spring, one of "our" moms held a memorial service for her baby 40 years later...she shared with me that she was able to honor her child and finally find peace. *Peace* is what we wish for each of our parents.

Take care,

Marcia

he love stays...forever in our hearts.

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