Honoring baby-loss

So I have this idea that I borrowed from grief website called Christian's beach…  (Tell me what you think?  Would you want to do it?)  October is baby loss awareness month.  I’ve been looking on grief support sights and thinking.  Since Gabbie has left I’ve had so many people come to me and say that they (or someone they know) have lost a baby/child too.  For some of them, they still feel the loss and weren’t really supported in it.  Some of my friends had miscarriages and because it was early in the pregnancy the miscarriage wasn’t really counted as being significant loss.  I know what it feels like to have hopes and dreams resting inside you and to have them gone in an instant.  Some people don’t want to attend a big event like the walks to remember or memorial service for their baby because it’s either too hard or too private a hurt.  All kinds of baby/infant/fetus/child loss is significant and should be honored.  There is no name for it in the English language, perhaps because people find it too uncomfortable to talk about. 

So here is my idea:

Send me a prayer flag for any baby-loss you or someone you know has suffered.  I will take whatever flags are sent to me, string them together and hang them for the month of October.  I need to have them by September 23 in order to have time to string them before October 1st.  Decorate your flags in honor of the loss.  You might have the baby’s name, just a significant date, or an image that reminds you of the baby.  Here is a link to help you. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-a-prayer-flag-how-to.html   It’s the first time I’ve done this too, so I’m learning by trial and error, too. 

I have been considering places to hang them.  I am open to options but here are my ideas so far.  (Now bear with me here, I’ve never done this before.) :

• Down by the lighthouse on the waterfront.
• Along a busy overpass to raise awareness for baby-loss
• Along the wooden rails of a trail in Losson Park.
• Down by one of the beaches along the lake front.

These are just a couple of ideas.  It will depend on how many are sent to me.  I probably won’t be able to send the flags back, as they will be handmade and sitting outside in the elements all of October.  Please remember that when you design your flag to send to me, leave the top two inches of it for me to fold it over to secure it to a string or stake.  Once I’ve hung it, I’ll take pictures of each one, and the whole lot of them, and post them here to honor the pain and love of our lost babies.  

Send me an email crystaline18@gmail.com if you want to participate and I'll respond with my address for you to send it.