Can Two People Really Grieve That Differently?

How can two people who love each other so much grieve in such utterly different ways. I don’t think there is a person on the planet who doesn’t know that men are different than women. This is why the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus was written and the game was created. It is to try to help all of us understand the opposite sex. Personally, I have never read the book but I can just imagine what it says.

Tonight I went outside to gather up more firewood from our backyard. I started a fire earlier today. It has turned cold again outside. I had run through what I had collected earlier and needed more to keep the fire going. I think I have finally learned how to build a pretty good fire. I can get the fire burning and it just feels so warm and cozy. You feel like you could run around in your shorts and a tank top as if you were in the summertime instead of it being 20 degrees outside.

When I went through the door from our office to the garage, I noticed I had left the garage door open from earlier today. Both the light bulb in our garage and the one that illuminates the outside from above our garage door are burned out. For some reason as I was walking down the steps I saw something on the ground to the left of the steps. When I bent down to pick it up, it was a 5x7 picture of our daughter Mariana.

This was a special picture. It was a part of the bereavement package we had received from the picture company Inter-State Studio. They happened to be the company hired in the fall of 2007 to take their fall school pictures. It happens to be her very last fall school picture. We used to live in DeKalb and her teacher, Julie Ahlbach, got a hold of the picture company. She knew they did this special service for parents who have lost a child. It included one 8x10, two 5x7’s, and nine wallets size photographs. Plus they gave us the copyright of the professional photo and put the photo on a CD for us to use however we wish.

I had given this 5x7 photo to my husband. He wanted to take it to work and put it up on his desk. I had asked him if he had done this the day he took it. He had told me he had. I felt like he had lied to me and I was so hurt. I wasn’t really hurt because he had not put the picture up but more because now there was a hole in the bottom of the picture and it was all scuffed up.

I called him up and said he was a liar. I asked him why he had lied to me about putting the picture up on his desk if he had not. Of course, as you can imagine, this started a fight over the phone. I have never accused Keith of lying to me before. He is just not that kind of person. He told me he had put it on his desk that day but did not have a new frame for it. He did not want to put it over one of her older pictures. He got so mad that he hung up on me.

He then called me back about five minutes later and said that he was so angry he now had to talk about it. He yelled at me saying, “What? You don’t think I miss her? You don’t think I want her here?” I knew this was not the case. I knew how much he loved his daughter and utterly missed her. He just never talks to me about her. I am the ONLY one who ever wants or seems to need to talk about her. He is grieving by never wanting to ever talk about her. I am grieving by needing to but nobody wanting to. How can two people who love each other more than life itself come together and be ok? How can we learn to grieve together so that we are there for each other in how the other grieves?

We have tried going to a grief counselor to help us out but that did not work. We have tried to talk about this on our own but that does not work. I guess only time will tell and be able to help us meddle our way through this incredibly difficult time. All I can say is at least we have each other. We may have an incredibly difficult road ahead of us but we will not be doing it alone. He is my other half as I am his. Together we are one.

The Value of a Mom’s Tears (or Dad's)

To me crying is never embarrassing because it is the way I truly express myself. It shows that I am sad. However, tears can make those around you so uncomfortable.

I was recently given an article written by Dr. Joyce Brothers. Now she is before most our time (although I have heard of her before) but she wrote something about tears when she lost her husband. I felt that I could turn this article into something that can become applicable for a mother and/or father who has lost a child.

When a father cries you know they are incredibly sad. Men just do not cry that often. When a mother cries it just makes those around her uncomfortable and about as popular as a child throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a store – not popular at all. A common reaction is to tell them not to cry. That crying will not help. Tears will not bring back your son/your daughter. They simply won’t help.

What most people fail to realize is that they do – they actually do. Tears are a way to help the mom, the dad, to make it through this incredibly hard time in their lives. So, this typical everyday reaction to tears is “the worst possible reaction.” Tears help more anyone could even imagine. The mother and father needs to cry. They will stop when they no longer need the tears – when they no longer need to cry. The tears are not only their friend but they are their best friend. They are there for them when no one else is or can be. “They are an early healing device – a kind of emotional first aid.”

I did not know this but she goes onto report: “Tears of sadness or anger contain leucine-eukephalin, one of the brain’s natural pain relievers. They also contain prolactin, a hormone that encourages the secretion o f tears.” It is interesting to note that women actually have half the amount of prolactin compared to men. Think about why women cry so much more than men do.

“‘Before our experiments, which revealed the presence of prolactin and leucine-enkephalin in tears, we had located them in the central nervous system,’ reported Dr. William Frey II, biochemist and research director of the Dry Eye and Tear Research Center at the St. Paul-Ramsey Center in Minneapolis. ‘We asked ourselves – what are these brain chemicals doing in tears?’”

“The answer, Dr. Frey believes, is that crying triggers the brain to release these chemicals. ‘Crying is an exocrine process,’ he says, ‘a process in which a substance – like sweat or urine or feces – comes out of the body, cleansing it of toxic substances. There is every reason to believe crying does the same. Crying does not just feel good – it appears to be an evolutionary device for adapting to emotional stress. When a woman is sad or angry, crying removes the chemicals that build up during stress and helps her feel better.’”

When I read the article and what the doctors say about crying it makes so much sense to me. When I have by crying, especially when I have just been sobbing, I tend to feel so much better. It is good to know that my crying is actually a benefit for my body. Crying has been such a release for me. Between crying and my writing I know this is what is getting me through the most.

I don’t know if this interested anyone else but I felt it was interesting enough to share with those that I love and care about and those that love and care about me.

Two Weeks and Two Days

I sit here tonight doing some research for my Biology class. I am supposed to turn in six articles throughout the semester. The articles are supposed to be related to biology somehow. I found a website dedicated to biology a couple of weeks ago. The site publishes several articles every single week. I had printed off several of them so I would be ready when I had to turn them in. But tonight I decided to do some research on topics that were more interesting to me.

The found several from the first search I did on autism. They were actually quite interesting to me. Then I decided to see if there were any articles on E. coli 0157. I don’t know why I decided to do this. I think I will always be curious at how something like E. coli could take my daughter from me.

The first article I found states, “…cattle fed distiller’s grain have an increased prevalence of E. coli 0157 in their hindgut. This particular type of E. coli is present in healthy cattle but poses a health risk to humans, who can acquire it through undercooked meat, raw dairy products and produce contaminated with cattle manure.… The growth of ethanol plants means more cattle are likely to be fed distiller’s grain, therefore harboring 0157 and potentially a source of health risk to humans… prevalence of 0157 was about twice as high in cattle fed distiller’s grain compared with those cattle that were on a diet lacking the ethanol byproduct.” When I read this the only thing I could think of would be the dairy products. Mari was not a huge dairy person as I gave her soy milk. I don’t know if Mari had any or not but you never know.

Then I read this other article called Common practices at petting zoos put visitors at risk. “E. coli 0157:H7 associated with two Florida petting zoos… Some behaviors that were most strongly associated with illness were feeding a cow or goat, touching a goat and stepping in manure or having manure on your shoes.” I think back to the two occasions where I went out to visit my sister-in-law’s farm when my niece Crysta was here to visit. I remember trying to keep Mari out of where the animals were but it really was a lost cause. Then I remember how I would bring her into the house. She then would just sneak back out through the open window to go outside while my back was turned. I think the one time it took her all of about 30 seconds. If you can imagine a speeding bullet – that was Mari. She was right back out with all the animals just singing and dancing and having a good time. She didn’t have a care in the world.

I guess we will never truly know what happen to Mari. But I guess none of will ever understand either how diarrhea could take the life of such a beautiful, vibrant little girl in just two weeks and two days.

Posting Comments and To Those Who Care

I sit here just thinking about our beautiful little Mari and how much I miss her. My dog Cody is by my feel playing with my cat Bandit. He is growling while the cat is hissing (believe it or not they are actually playing and DO like each other). While I sit here listening to them I just think of Mari. I think of how much I miss her and wish she was here beside me so I could hear her playing instead of my animals.

I went on Otrib.com today just to see if anyone had responded to her dedication I have on that site. There was not just one comment that had been left for me to approve; there were a total of five. Some were long and some were short; some had been left a few weeks ago and some were more recent. They all meant so much to me. I want everyone who reads my site to know that if you post a comment, I may not get to it right away but know that I read them ALL. I appreciate them ALL. They mean more to me than words could ever express.

I decided to join Facebook back on November 30. It is something I had put off because I was simply not interested. I thought it was going to be stupid. Then when I decided to start my blog dedicated to Mari I saw there was a way to have my posts uploaded onto Facebook. I thought, “Why not try it out.” So I signed up and have been addicted ever since.

I was so excited because I was able to reconnect with so many of my friends from my high school and my high school youth group. I left Sacramento on March 30, 1993 to go active duty in the Army when I was 19 years old. I was stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas and I have not lived back in California since. I met my husband in June, 1993 and we were married on February 18, 1994. When we both got off of active duty we came back to Illinois where he is from and have been here ever since. Keith has been back on active duty for the last 7 ½ years here in Illinois recruiting for the Army.

Joining Facebook when I did really was something very special. It has become something that was needed in my life as I have been so lonely and missing Mari so much. Some of the comments I have received have been so special and more than I could ever have imagined or hoped for. I appreciate everyone who has been there for Keith and I and continuing to be there for us as each day goes by.

For those of you who are wondering what I am doing now, I decided to go back to school last semester. I started off with four classes but ultimately ended up dropping two of them because it was just too much for me at the time. This semester I am taking three classes. Two are gen ed requirements and one is just for myself. The two gen ed requirements are General Education Biology (oh fun!!! LOL) and Honors American Literature II. I am already finished with my third week as of today (it amazes me how quickly time is going by). Biology is going ok and I am really enjoying myself in my American Lit class (believe it or not). There is a lot of reading but that is ok. The classes are interesting which makes it a lot easier to want to attend each day.

The other class I am taking is Creative Writing: Non-Fiction. When I had decided to take this class at the end of last term I had no idea it was going to be a non-fiction creative writing class. I just thought it was going to be a creative writing class writing about anything you wanted from poetry, to fiction, to non-fiction. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find this out. I will be able to learn a lot in this class. I think that it will help me to better improve what I have been writing and then help me to write my book about Mari and her life.

I have been told, it seems, by more and more people they think I am a good writer. I want to say thank you to anyone who believes this or who has told me this. I can honestly say that I do not think of myself as a “writer” but just as someone who writes down her thoughts and her feelings and then shares it with those around her. I appreciate all feedback anyone has to say about what I have written.

My sincerest hope is that when I write something and then share it with those around me that it can help you or others to understand me just a little bit better. It can help you to see through my eyes what it has been like to have lost Mari and to have lost your only child. I know that no matter what I say or what I do that unless you have lost a child there is no way to truly ever understand what it is like to have lost one. However, I think it will help those who have read or will read what I have written to better understand me and the loss of not only a child but your only child. I also hope that it can be healing for those around me and to help all of us get through this incredibly hard time.

Preacakes

It is Saturday morning and I have just woken up. Daddy is still sleeping beside me as he has had a long week at work in the recruiting office. They usually are. It is about 10:15 in the morning. I have awoken to the sound of our eight year old little angel singing her heart out through the monitor. She is singing one of her very favorite song, “Rescue pack, comin’ to the rescue …” It is from one of her favorite shows Diego, the Animal Rescuer. I lay in bed awhile longer trying to just rest before my day begins. Once my day starts it is an all day affair with no rest for the weary.

I finally decide to get up and out of bed around 10:30 because Mari is now saying, “Let’s go potty.” Now typically if Mari says “Let’s go potty” it is only to get out of doing something she no longer wants to do and not that she really needs to go potty. So I am pretty skeptical. The only drawback is you just never know when she actually has to use the potty. So I decide I had better go downstairs to get her out of her room to put her on the potty.

As I get closer to the door, you can just hear her saying over and over again, “Let’s go potty, let’s go potty, let’s go potty, let’s go potty.” I know it will NEVER stop until I get her out of her room as she is one persistent and stubborn little thing due to her autism. It’s kind of like we are at Burger King all the time, it ALWAYS has to be Mari’s way.

I take her out of her bedroom, put her hand in mine and take her to the bathroom across from her room. I unzip her blanket sleeper, pull down her Goodnight, and she sits down on the potty. Now, a typical, average, everyday person once they have woken up in the morning would sit on the toilet and go to the bathroom RIGHT AWAY. Not Mari. We sit, and sit, and sit, and then sit some more. Twenty minutes have now gone by and still no pee-pee on the potty for our little Mari. Boy does she have some good bladder control. Now Mari is saying, “All done.” I know that we could sit there for the next hour or two and she probably will still not have gone. So, I stand her up. She pulls up her goodnight. I take her blanket sleeper all the way off now because it is time to get dressed for the day.

We go back into her room to find an outfit. I am so organized with all of her clothes. If there is a top there is an exact bottom that matches it. If daddy or someone else tries to dress her and put the wrong items together, I have to go back and put the appropriate outfit on her. I pull out one of my favorite outfits for her. It is from the Mary Kate and Ashley line. I love almost all of the outfits they have come out with.

The top has long sleeves. The sleeves and the bodice are different because they are crocheted with a thin burnt orange yarn. The bottom half of the top is a cream t-shirt type material. Because the bodice is crocheted, the t-shirt type material goes up underneath it kind of like a tank top so the bodice is not see-through this way. There are two embroidered flowers, one of the left and one on the right, on the crocheted bodice. Towards the bottom right (if you are looking at the top) is another embroidered flower attached to the t-shirt material. The pants are jeans. They have an acid wash, wrinkled look to them. The jeans have double stitching on each seam and one thread is daisy yellow while the second thread is burnt orange. Towards the top of the pants have a special patterns that sort of looks like a big upside down crown where they attached the pants and used a zigzag stitch with burnt orange for the thread and a straight stitch with daisy yellow for the thread. On the front right jeans pocket (if you are looking at the jeans) has several embroidered flowers with an embroidered butterfly in many different colors. On both of her back pockets, the top half on the left pocket and the bottom right side on the right pocket, are multi-colored embroidered flowers as well. When this outfit is worn it just looks so feminine while at the same time it looks so incredibly cute.

I hand her the pants and she sits on the floor to put them on. I then hand her the shirt. She struggles a little so I help her put it on. We are all dressed now and Mari says, “Preacakes! Preacakes! Preacakes!” I stop her and say, “Mama, I want some preacakes please” while I sign to her the words. Mari then repeats back to me, “Mama, I want preacakes please.” I figure it is close enough so we are off to the kitchen to make us some preacakes.

So the first think I do is to pull out the griddle so it can start heating up. Mari starts to flap her arms in excitement because she knows she is getting her preacakes. I then pull out a bowl to mix the ingredients in. I pull over the step ladder so she can help me at the countertop. I ask Mari to go and get the Bisquick. She goes to the pantry, pulls out the big heavy box of Bisquick and places it on the countertop. I then pull out a 1/3 measuring cup. I measure the first cup full of Bisquick and she dumps it in the bowl. We do this five more times until we have two cups of Bisquick in the bowl. Then I ask Mari, “Ok, what is next?” So she steps down off the ladder, she opens the refrigerator and pulls out two eggs. She brings them over to me, steps back up on the ladder. I break the shells and put the eggs in. Then I ask Mari, “Ok, what is next?” She then steps back down, goes back to the refrigerator and pulls out the gallon of milk. She brings it over to me and she is back up on her ladder. I pull out a Pyrex two cup measuring cup and pour about one and a quarter cups of milk into it. I hand it to Mari and she pours it in. She then goes to the utensil draw and pulls out a whisk. She gets back up on her ladder and starts to stir the batter. She does a pretty good job but it is not quite all stirred so I finish mixing it until it is completely stirred.
So now I pour about a third of a cup of batter onto the griddle. I place four more round circles of batter onto the griddle and we watch them as they start to cook. Mari is just so excited. She starts to flap her “wings” again. The preacakes take about 3 to 4 minutes to cook and then they are done.

Mari goes and puts herself into her highchair that she has had since the day she was born. I close the lid. I place the three preacakes on a plate, butter them, cut them up into easy to eat squares, and then add syrup. I bring the plate and a fork over to Mari. She immediately digs in. Mari tries so hard to use a fork but ultimately gives up and just uses her hands. By the time she is done eating you ask yourself, “Did she get any of it in her mouth?” as it is all over her face, hands, and the clothes we had just put her in for the day.

So I take her out of her high chair, get her all cleaned up and Mari is off to play for the rest of the day.