SHARE Atlanta

"Taking On Wings"

"What the angel and the garden mean to me."

From the Groundbreaking Ceremony

The meaning behind the words that were gently placed in the soil....

Angel of Hope

My word was "sanctuary",

...which I felt from the first moment Joe explained his vision of the garden to me. When he pointed out that it would only be used once a year for a crowd and just occasionally for a small gathering, but nearly every day for the grieving couple or solitary mother, I immediately imagined a place of safety, peace, and comfort. I see it as a haven for our babies' memories to fly free, where no one will judge our ties to them. I know it will become, even more than it already is, a place where my tears are free to flow. It is my calm harbor in the stormy emotions of grief where I am sure my heart can find shelter. Jennifer Greer

Comfort

The Angel of Hope represents a place where I can come and not only grieve, but find peace and comfort. For myself and others that have had miscarriages or were not able to bury our children this is a place, other than our homes, where we can remember and honor our special children. I thank Chris and Terry for their vision, compassion and generosity that will hopefully offer others the comfort that the Angel will bring me.

The importance of all of our children

To me, the angel publicly acknowledges the importance of all of our children, both living and dead in our family. "How many children do you have?" is still the hardest question that I am asked by total strangers. My heart still hurts as I agonize how to answer each time it is asked. Holes in your heart that big just don't ever truly heal, they just sort of scar over like the place where a limb was removed from a tree.

"Eternal Life"

In my mind, angels are eternal. They live a perfect life in heaven. I feel that our babies are now angels in heaven living that eternal life of perfection that we are all looking forward to.

Retrospect

...to be able to think back on how different my life may have been had I not gone through losing my babies. To realize how I have persevered and come out of my grief a stronger and hopefully better person. Pam Renner

We lost our second, third and sixth child to miscarriage in October ‘95, February ‘96, and June ‘99. Our daughter, Allie, was born and died at 18 weeks due to a rare genetic anomaly on November 15, ‘96.

My word for the angel is "Dream".

I was feeling sort of ho hum as I drove to work. It was a normal morning, normal traffic, overcast sky. As I approached the towering high-rise were my office was located I leaned forward and adjusted the radio dial and listened as Sandy Patty sang a song about babies being formed in the womb.

All of sudden a dream I had the night before came rushing back to my mind. In my dream I was looking up into a blue sky. Off in the distance I could see two small dark dots. Quickly these dots became bigger as they moved toward me and begin to take shape. I soon realized they were angels. Not just any angels......they were baby angels. Wearing flowing white robes, fluttering white wings they had blonde hair and blue eyes and the biggest smiles you have ever seen. As they bounced around each other I was struck by how happy they were. They giggled and giggled and giggled. Some how I knew these were not my babies. They appeared to be about 2 years old.

I decided to speak to them.

I asked " Do you know my little boy"?

Without uttering a word they nodded their heads yes.

"Is he happy"? I asked.

Again they nodded yes still bouncing and giggling.

"Will you tell him that I love him"? I said.

Yes they nodded and they flew back up into the clouds. As quickly as they came they were gone.

And the dream was over. The song finished playing as I pulled into my parking space. I was shaking as I sat there contemplating the dream.

I had not been looking forward to the upcoming Christmas season. This angle dream gave me a lot of peace and comfort and still does. Christmas was much easier that year. And has been ever since. I know my angels are happy and I am at peace with that. Karen Major

In Loving Memory of Charles, Christian, Michael, Cole and Tracy

1989 - 1994

“Outreach”

For me, the angel means that the miracle of our babies and our love for our babies has “taken on wings” with further meaning and outreach. Those of us who have been involved with SHARE Atlanta for a long time know that it wasn’t so long ago that we struggled for every breathe just to hold the meetings.

Then we gave the beautiful bench and garden, memory brick pathway, and memory quilt in our children’s memory. Now, once again, the gifts that our special babies have helped us to give, reach out beyond the meetings, beyond the struggle of survival each day, into another beautiful permanent memento that will forever stand in memory of our children.

The parents in SHARE Atlanta have taken their tragic losses and opened another window for hurting parents to heal. As parents of every stage of grief come to visit the angel (a special miracle), hopefully, their pain can take on “wings” and the miracle of healing can happen. For me, after all these years, what we wrote so long ago has been verified over and over: the love for our babies does stay forever in our hearts as it reaches out to bereaved parents. Marcia McGinnis in Memory of Catherine, Elizabeth and Seth

The Story of SA's Angel Garden & Memorial Bricks

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