Facebook Group

Strangers, we joined the same group to journey together.  Feeling a bit silly, I almost leave, but something keeps me involved.  Connection, interaction, laughter, tears, drama, it was all there.  We were due in the same month, lived in the same country.  Those were the only requirements. Some left early due to miscarriage, to which all of us were sad, yet also breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't us.  The rest of us carried on through nine months of changing bodies, growing babies, and the myriad of issues those things bring out.  Most of us only knew each other through the screen, a few met in person.  Yet this group of ladies rallied around a mother who delivered her twins prematurely, sending a care package to the hospital for her.  Strangers, holding each other through the greatest and hardest life transition I have experienced.  Something incredible happens when you make a connection with someone, even if you've never met face to face.
Days after our sweet Levi was stillborn, I announced I was leaving the group.  As much as I enjoyed the support and laughs, it would be too hard to watch all these babies grow when I wasn't able to watch mine grow too.  Comments, messages and love were overwhelming from these ladies.  I sobbed through many sweet words of sadness and encouragement.  Ladies I had never met, but something was there.
A year later, a member contacts me again to see how we are doing as we approach his still birthday .  Thoughtfulness.  Knowing we weren't forgotten.  Kindness.  It touched me.  And then a package came.  A ring with a sweet inscription.  Meaningful.  LIS 5:18. His initials.  The reference on the thankfulness verse I had shared.  Deeply moved, I cried in thankfulness.  Then came another package.  A frame with a meaningful quote.  "Once you are Real, you can't become Unreal again.  It lasts for Always." The Velveteen Rabbit.  How incredibly deep.  I wondered for days who it was from, starting to write a note to the sender for more information.  But a message online prompts me to open the frame, and I find signature after signature of the ladies I was in the group with.  Both unexpected gifts from these moms who hadn't forgotten us.
Connection, no matter how small, is meaningful.  I will never forget the kindness of these ladies.  They spoke into our pain and validated our suffering.  A group of strangers, bound by a similar journey.  And I am forever thankful.

(If you are reading this and are a Canadian June Birth Mom, I thank you.)