I Will Make You Proud

Tools for finding hope along the journey: Living life
 
The pain and sorrow of losing someone we love can make us want to curl up in the fetal position and never get out of bed.  When our son died I spent a week on the couch not caring what was happening beyond my front door.  I did not want to take my next breath much less take a step toward a future without him. One day I imagined seeing him agai...n and him asking me what I had done all those years without him…suddenly staying in bed or on the couch didn’t seem like a fitting legacy for my son. I wanted to live a life that would make him proud.  It has been almost 13 years without him, I miss him every day, that will never change but I am off the couch living my life for us both.  Living a good life is not about forgetting it is about remembering and knowing what they would want for us.
Artwork by Tanya Lord
About the Artist

Tanya Lord was a special education teacher when Noah died. After his death she read The Institute of Medicine’s report To Err Is Human and realized that the errors responsible for her son’s death were not unique. This created a desire and determination to better understand and work towards improving health care. Currently she has completed a master’s degree in public health and a PhD in clinical and population health research and is completing a post-doctoral fellowship. Lord shares her personal and professional experiences in presentations and workshops for medical staff and students focusing on the importance of effective communication with patients before and after an error. She also is a co-founder of The Grief Toolbox (www.thegrieftoolbox.com), which offers tools to help those along the grief journey. Lord may be contacted at [email protected]