Living with Loss

He was a free spirit. I smiled as I listened to this father speak of his son and thought my son too was his own person. That foundational characteristic was one of the things that both frustrated me and that I so adored about Wyatt. His stubbornness and confidence, kindness and compassion tempered with unyielding positions on matters important to him, his staunch support of those he cared about and his ability to truly not give a damn about some things. Then I thought of the children who have died that I have come to know and love through Wyatt's death, being a free spirit seemed to be a common thread in many of their lives. Maybe that is the way we remember them, maybe it’s the way they really were, but either way, I’m beginning to believe that indeed only the good die young. These are the children who brought to our lives a different way of looking at the world or thinking that things just might not have to be what we thought they did. Don't we all want our child to be