Sharing Joy

I have talked about the Sharing Place before. It is a wonderful program for children that have lost someone close to them. They get to do activities that remember their loved one and they get to "share" whatever feelings or thoughts they are having. While the children are doing this, the parents are in a circle talking about their experiences. All the adults in my group are there because they lost a spouse. Sometimes when we are sharing, I feel like the outsider. They are talking about life challenges without a spouse and I'm talking about burying a child. While both are hard, they are different and I have gotten so much more out of talking to Molly and the other Angel moms I have met through the blogging world.

A few weeks ago, the group was discussing the challenges of the holidays and missing their loved ones. Everyone in my group has already faced at least 1 to 2 Christmases. Since it was my first, they were wondering if we were doing anything special. I mentioned my Joy tree and a couple of other things. Last night, a few of the dads in my group brought me these.

I can't even tell you how this touched me. They said they had thought of me while they were shopping this year. I guess it meant so much because I hardly know them. These men had lost their wives and they are raising their kids alone. It just proved that even though our losses are different, we are still empathetic to losing a loved one.

#2 and 3 made these and proudly added them to the Joy tree.