This photo was taken on my birthday- exactly 36 days after my world shattered. Somehow the 1 month anniversary of losing our baby boy, my first Mother’s Day and my birthday all collided into a 1 week span. In this photo we are smiling, but I can visually see and feel the pain in my face. Whenever we would go somewhere I always wondered if others had any idea what we just went through. I wondered if they did, if they would treat us any differently knowing we just went through the most devastating event of our lives. Then I started to look around and wonder the same thing about everyone else. What we see by just looking at someone doesn’t even begin to tell half of their story. If there is one thing I have learned through all of this, it’s that everyone at some point will go through something that shakes them to their core, and you may have no idea. The point is that I always want to make sure to extend kindness and graciousness to everyone I meet.
I recently recorded a podcast with an amazing woman who recently beat Cancer, and is still fighting everyday for her life with a smile on her face & hope in her heart. She created the podcast during the fight of her life to encourage and highlight other women who have also “overcome†by the grace of God. One of the questions she asked me was what advice I would give to someone who sees a new mom and has just endured a loss. What she didn’t know is that exact situation happened to me, and I wrote about it! Of course I told her my initial reaction was, “That is supposed to be me!†Then I told her that as I started writing, God put on my heart that I have no idea what she went through to have her baby. Lord knows, if someone in the future saw me in that situation and didn’t know what I had went through, I’m sure they would feel differently. .
All I’m trying to say is you just don’t know, and to challenge you to be a little kinder than usual today. Let someone over in traffic, then wave. Hold the door for someone, even if you have to wait a minute. Apologize, even if you think they should. Smile, then say hi to to a stranger. You never know how one small gesture could change someone’s entire day.. or even their life.
