Creating a Remembrance Table - Part I

By Dave and MaryJo Carlson, grandparents to Samuel Evan Fredrickson.

October is the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. October 15th is the Wave of Light.

This is part I of III. Be sure to read Part II and Part III.

"Where but in the present can the eternal be met?" 

- C.S Lewis

Our dear Samuel, 

You are so beautiful and you are so loved! How can we not remember you? How can we not still talk about you? How can we not celebrate you? How do we wait what might be a very long time to be with you forever? A precious little boy who stole our hearts the second we heard he was on the way and has forever changed us for this life and the next - Samuel Evan Fredrickson - April 14, 2012 was hello and goodbye until we meet again FOREVER. 

It has been over 3 years since we met you face to face; touch to touch. How can it be that we still wish time has not moved forward but forever stood still.

Stood still so we could keep you here with us.
Stood still so we could scoop you into our arms and never let you go.
Stood still so we could say everything we wanted to say to you.
Stood still so we could smother you with kisses and hugs and cute little sayings.
Stood still so we could be your grandparents and have you here with us… 
…rather than wishing time stood still.

We love you, Samuel!

We look back and realize a person will truly never know what this feels like until it happens to them. We don't know what it means to lose a child in the way our daughter and son-in-law do. But that doesn’t keep us from remembering with them, supporting them through the rest of this life as they try and find a way to live without their ‘little love’. (We love that term our daughter and son-in-love have for our grandson Samuel) He’s our little love too, just in a grandparent way. We are so very appreciative that there is a public recognition of this horrible, nightmarish, life altering event of infant loss. For every parent who has been given this tragedy deserves to be upheld publicly with respect and honor for their bravery and courage of living after loss. And - I should add - with most people wanting you to stop talking about it and just go on with life.

This year for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, we are decorating a remembrance table for Samuel. It will have things that we have had out before and in different places around our house but for this year we will daily build a 2015 table of remembrance for him until October 15 when we join others around the world for Wave of Light as we light our Samuel candle. Our table is not far from our front door for all to see who visit us. Here is a picture of what is on it when we started:

We have moved these things to another spot in the room and are now ready to build our Sacred Place of Remembrance for our precious Samuel Evan. Each day we'll be adding additional items.

October 1st – table covering 

A close friend of the family made this quilt for Samuel while our daughter carried him. It was displayed at his memorial service. 

The matching pillow reminds us that we got a glimpse of heaven while Samuel was with us. 

We added a collage of his photos, and now the table is ready for us to create a special place for him leading up to the 15th!

We will add to this daily and update all of you on as we get closer to the 15th, with his candle ready to light.

We encourage everyone to set a sacred place of remembrance for your child/grandchild that waits for us in heaven.

~ ~ ~

Dave and MaryJo Carlson are Samuel Evan's grandparents. Their daughter, RaeAnne, carried him with all her love after learning of his fatal diagnosis during pregnancy. She created All That Love Can Do in his memory. MaryJo runs the private group for bereaved grandparents, ATLCD_Grandparents. They live in MN.