The impact of one

It has taken me a while to write this post as I have honestly searched for the right words to articulate what I wanted to say and processed the meaning behind the meeting. I have found the words and I wanted to share them tonight.

As I shook his hand and Introduced myself, I was really nervous. I had already arrived a few moments late to the meeting because I had gone to the wrong place, but in meeting him, I just had a feeling that this meeting would be one of those moments in my life that I would never forget.

He seemed like an ordinary man who had a lifetime of experiences and a life well lived. If you saw him on the street you would never know that he had too experienced loss. You would never have actually guessed there was anything so heartbreaking that could have occurred in his life at all. He spoke very little as a girlfriend of mine and I chatted about our children and the day to day trials and experiences of being a Mom. He just listened patiently, but with a very quiet and calm demeanor as if he was on a mission.

I knew nothing about this gentleman and his family going into this meeting. I just knew we were going to meet. I had brought all of my keepsakes and packages so I could show him what we were doing for other families in memory of our Olie. I wanted to make sure that I was professional and really spoke to our mission of how we help and support our families. I wanted him to know that our Olie was making a difference.

As we sat down, he reached for an envelope and gave it to me. I said thank you and he told me to open it. Inside of this envelope was his story and he asked me to read it. I made it two sentences into the story and I began to sob. I could not help it. I cried and cried and really could not articulate any of my well meaning speech that I had prepared in my mind. None of it really mattered anyway. Out of respect for the family, I will not share what exactly was written in this letter but I will say that the letter has never left my envelope and goes with me everywhere I go before events to support our family. I read the letter privately before I go speak to families and every time we have an event. It has had a profound effect on how I approach families and how I support them. It has reminded me that although we are a nonprofit and business, we are really in the business of supporting and helping our families. We exist solely to remember and honor their babies and children because they matter to our families and to us as an organization.

When I began Olie’s Footprints, I thought that Olie would impact a few family’s lives and help support a few families. I had no idea of how much the families that we support would impact me and my journey. I was blind that in remembering and honoring other little angels, we would begin to heal too. I never imagined the ups and downs that would be part of our life and the constant tugging between two worlds that still has not been rectified. It never occurred to me that in sharing stories, we would cry with other families and rode the roller coaster of life with them. When a family lost a baby or delivered a healthy baby after, we would be there to support, love, and hug them all the way through it. Through many adoptions, we would be there to cry through all of the paperwork and listen to frustrations. In fertility treatments, we would encourage our families through every painful shot and pill they would take. Each and every journey, each and every angel that we would remember and celebrate.

I write this tonight because I want the family to know that the impact that their son has made on our journey and our family’s ability to help support other families who are on this journey with us will never be forgotten. In the end, he reminded me of the impact of one. One family. One angel. One son gone way too soon.

No matter the projects, events, keepsakes, programs, and packages that we create, it really comes down to one thing-our Angels have left their mark on this world. They have and will continue to impact our lives and the decisions that we make. They have left this world a more loving, caring, kind, and peaceful place to live. Some days it seems we struggle to even breathe through the day let alone accomplish anything profound. Some days we are on the highest mountain and nothing can stop us.

Each little life has changed the way we live, work, breathe, and exist in this world. Thank you for reminding me of the impact that one precious soul can make on this world. It is a lesson that I will forever cherish and a good reminder that one life can make a meaningful difference to thousands of others.