Lori's Rambling

Today is Jaelyn’s 12th birthday.  As I sit and reflect back over the past twelve years I can’t help but wonder what our life would be like and how different Jaelyn would be if her dad had not died when she was 7.  I try not to stay in those thoughts long as it really serves no purpose.  I can’t go back and change what happened.  What it does do is make me grateful for who Jaelyn has turned into despite the tragedy of losing her dad.  I don’t often talk about Jaelyn’s journey over the past four years as that is her story, but I think it is important to see the hope and healing that can come not only to adults but also to a young child experiencing a tragic and life-altering loss. I remember reading a post about a year ago on a widow/widowers Facebook group about the damage to their child because of the loss of their parent.  I know this hit me very wrong in that moment.  Neither I nor Jaelyn are defined by the death of Scott and I refuse to allow that to be how we are defined.  Tha

After Scott’s death a lot of things changed drastically, but one of the biggest was friendships.  Some friendships disappeared in the days and months afterward — out discomfort with emotion and grief by my best guess, some faded in closeness while others deepened.  One of the surprises in my grief journey were the new friendships that developed.  One of those new friendships was truly special.   When I look back over time, I see that God laid the groundwork for that friendship over a couple of years time.  I first met Samantha when Scott and I left Milton Hershey School and returned to Jonestown and attending the Lebanon Area Evangelical Free Church again.  Samantha was the first person to come up and talk to Scott and I and welcome us to the church.   Two years later, in the initial days after Scott died, Samantha sent a card expressing thoughts and prayers.  A few months later, when all the initial support and expressions of sympathy had faded, Samantha sent another card, sh