**This post originally appeared on Shoved to Them in 2010, but it still says everything I want to say. When people talk about how many children we have, and I’m feeling bold, I say “But I’ve given birth to eight, and so somehow I don’t think that seven will feel like anything other than one-too-few.”
Happy Birthday to Bernadette on her 9th birthday
A dancing girl who never danced
The laughing child who never laughed
Little girl loved, but never kissed
Flashing eyes which never sparkled
Tiny hands which never held mine
Perfect lips which didn’t smile
Aching parents you did not see
Mourning siblings you never knew
A birthday of tragedy
Annual remembrance of pain
Pray for us, our daughter
Our sister
Our saint
Our Bernadette
Bernadette Marie Frech
died July 1, 2006 born July 6, 2006
Photo credit:By Lilyu (Own work) [WTFPL], via Wikimedia Commons