What color are your child's eyes?

I had the honor of holding a workshop at The Compassionate Friends Regional meeting in Omaha this weekend and truly what an honor it was!! I had the privilege of helping a newly bereaved mother hook up with someone in her town to walk along side her and that made all the work of the event worth it!! This woman knew no one in her small town to walk along side her in her new pain and now she does and that was an amazing connection to see happen!! One of the speakers changed the way I held my workshop this weekend. She challenged all the attendents to tell our child's life story instead of our child's death story when asked about our child. This is such a change in prospective for so many including myself. People ask me about DJ and I always start with telling them about the skateboarding accident and his death. I cannot think of anytime that has not happened. Well from this day forward I am going to try to start with his life first--he lived first and died second anyway so why not? It only makes sense if you think about it!! My son lived and he lived fully for those 13 years and people should know that, he was an amazing child and people should know that. The presenter also told us to tell people the color of our child's eyes. DJ's eyes were a beautiful green color and funny enough when I spoke with other people know one else's children's eyes were green, there were many blue eyed children but surprisingly enough there weren't any green except DJ's. My challenge for you all today and this week is to tell someone your child's life story instead of their death story first. Tell them your child's eye colors. Honor your child's life this week instead of mourning their death! (Flowers on a Child's Grave, Now What? was the number one book sold at the Regional Conference this weekend in Omaha--I hope DJ is proud of his Mommy because I was proud of him every day!)