A year ago today, Caroline Patricia was born a beautiful baby angel into the life of my dear and precious friend Bernadette. The earth stopped spinning. Light was extinguished. The world became silent.
The grief at the loss of Bernadette’s first grandchild was, and still is, unthinkable. Caroline danced inside her Mommy for all the moments and days and weeks she was supposed to. As Shakespeare wrote, “Grief makes one hour ten.” But grief at the loss of a perfect baby angel makes one hour a lifetime. Although Bernadette’s heart and arms hung heavily laden, her Mom heart and arms became strong and powerful for her daughter, her son-in-law, her family, her friends. There were many moments of covering her face and weeping for them. This is Bernadette.
As the moments turned into days and the world began a slow spin, there were answers to the sudden loss of baby Caroline… but no answers are so sufficient to cloak the grief and the memories of moments from before. The before becomes the identifiable time. The before becomes the light prior to the darkness. The before is separate days and months and years.
The after becomes a shadow of the before.
As the days turned into weeks, Caroline’s life and dance and joyful blessings from heaven became tangible and miraculous as Bernadette’s daughter became pregnant. This pregnancy has not been without complications… but this little boy, Caroline’s baby brother, is due within the next few weeks.
Caroline’s little hands have touched the hearts of the divine to make this after a journey of life. A journey of hope. A journey of blessings. Caroline’s little hands are creating a lifetime as a work of art… from heaven. Caroline’s mosaic fills the after of each heart. Each piece she picks is filled with color and exquisite design, and her baby brother is the first magnificent piece.
On this day, I wish hope and peace for my beautiful friend. I wish hope and peace for Jennifer and Dave… Ed, Matthew and Eric… and to all who have been touched by Sweet Caroline as she continues her beautiful, lively, heavenly journey and sits on the lap of her loving Grandpa.
I ask for you to pray today for my dear friend Bernadette and for her family. I ask you to count your blessings today in honor of Sweet Caroline. And I ask for your prayers for Baby Brother. My greatest joy will come on the day I announce his arrival…
I love you, Bernadette. I am with you today.
Such a beautiful and loving post. You never cease to amaze me with your words. They are certainly in my prayers.
Oh, Sharon. They are in my prayers, and I hope you’ll keep us updated on the birth of what is sure to be a beautiful baby boy… one already blessed enough to have his own guardian angel.
Oh thank you my dear friend for such a wonderful tribute!
Love, Bern
My prayers are with the Donnelly and Andrews families today as I count my blessings in honor of Caroline.
I remember with such sadness finding out about Caroline… I am sure she is watching over the family and will be her baby brother’s guardian angel forever.
Blessings on the family in dealing with such an unfathomable loss and in expectation for the new baby.
Thanks Sharon! We can’t wait for the arrival of “little guy” soon!!
Sharon – what a beautiful triute to not only dear Sweet Caroline and her Mommy & Daddy, but to her very special Gramma, Bernadette. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the Donnelly and Andrews families as they anxiously await the arrival of Baby Brother. What a beatiful gift he will be! Sharon, what you wrote was beautiful. Bern, love you today and always. Sheila
Sharon- The support and care we give each other through those dark, dark hours mean the world- I’m sure Bernadette appreciates you more than words can say. When the world stop spinning, our friends are the magnetic force that polarizes it again. Some things just don’t fully heal. I know.
And I’m so sorry that your friends are there, but so excited for her baby boy to come! Of course no one can replace Caroline in her heart, but that horrible feeling of being a mother but not having a child will relent. Will be holding her in my thoughts and prayers.
I pray for a safe, healthy delivery for Angel Caroline’s baby brother. Bernadette is also in my thoughts and prayers.