March is usually a little bit tough for me. In 1998, my first pregnancy ended in the stillbirth of my daughter. It was a life changing and difficult time. Each year since I try to honor her short time with us by making a small donation to a place I think she would have enjoyed at that particular age, or to a place I believe is making a difference in the world.
Two years later, on March 24, 2000, I was blessed with a safe and healthy delivery of my son Taylor. Today he turns 22 years old, and I celebrate the young man he has become and is becoming. He was officially my "rainbow baby" - defined as a healthy baby born or adopted after miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. I am so proud of Taylor - he is due to graduate from New York University this May! He has brought such joy into my life, the rainbow that followed my darkest storm.
March is a transitional month, filled with the hopes of spring while still hanging on to the winter. It is symbolized with shamrocks, good luck, and rainbows. It always sits in the heart of Lent, and every once in a while it contains Easter. I feel the essence of spring cleaning and the need to get over the hump and into April. It is a both / and kind of calendar space.
Holding all this in my heart, March has held both sorrow and joy, so it always feels like a grueling climb up a hill that ends each year with the happy celebration of the little boy that is now a man. I am so incredibly grateful to have Taylor as my son. I hope you also feel the promise of the rainbow today - a blessing after the storm.
