A Family Tradition: Three Months Later

March 19 marked 3 months since Anya's death. And so, last Wednesday, we took some time to celebrate our love for our daughter.

This month's gesture was simple, yet incredibly meaningful. We framed a photo of our small family and we placed it at the top of the stairs.

For those of you who don't know the history of our house, a little over a year ago, Alex and I bought my grandparents house. Our home holds lots of happy memories from my childhood. It is a house filled with love, and we now include all the love of our small family to the pile of wonderful memories this house holds.

For as long as I can remember, my grandparents had framed photos of their five children hung lovingly in the staircase. The eldest Felice daughter was in the first photo at the top of the stairs, the youngest son's photo was hung near the landing at the bottom, and photos of their three other children held their respective places in the middle.

Now, in continuing with this tradition, a framed photo of Anya, our first-born daughter, has been hung just where it belongs at the top of the stairs.

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A side note about the photos we have of Anya :

On December 19, in the hours of shock, confusion and pain that followed Anya's death, a nurse at the hospital suggested she get in touch with a volunteer photographer who could take pictures to commemorate our family's one and only day together. An hour or two later, we welcomed a wonderfully compassionate and attentive photographer into our little cocoon. This photographer was a volunteer for the organization Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, which offers free photography services to parents who have lost a baby. Thanks to this photographer and this organization, we now have a few more mementos to add to our small pile. We are ever so grateful!