Thank you, Chrissy Teigen
I woke up, feeling upbeat. Today, I will do the things I planned from yesterday. I start my day reading stories and today, and I ended up with Hi.
An open letter, a personal essay from chrissy teigen
I read it, and read it again.
On grief and loss
No words will be enough. This year has been a tough one, 1,171,288 have died from the coronavirus, as of October 28. I need to get that right, each life lost during this pandemic needs to be remembered.
It is why, whenever I hear the coronavirus deniers, that people die every day and in a world of 7.8 billion, a million deaths are nothing. The coronavirus deniers, see the death in numbers. What they don’t see is each one, is a person loved, each one loved, and each one has a name.
With Chrissy Teigen, she is grieving the loss of her baby, a son she calls Jack.
I had no idea when I would be ready to write this. Part of me thought it would be early on, when I was still really feeling the pain of what happened.
Losing someone is something we would all go through, life is celebrated, and in death, remembered.
Losing a baby is unimaginable, but mothers around the world have experienced it.
In my own family, my mother lost a baby, someone who could have been my big brother. Growing up with 5 sisters, I always thought about what life would be like with a brother. Life for me would have been different, one of my life could have.
One of my sisters lost babies, not one but 2. She also lost a young son who was 2 at that time. One was stillborn, and as in the case of Chrissy Teigen, the other was born too early. I know one was named John Mark, and I am sorry to not remember the name of the other one.
She also lost a child at 2 years old from dengue, who today could have a grown man in his 30s. That boy, we call RJ is remembered with great fondness, with his curly hair and a smile that by now could have melted the hearts of women.
My sister, through the years, had moved forward. I never asked, how she was able to, she has 3 children left to take care of. Today, she is even a grandmother of one.
I have a cousin, who was expecting quadruplets. The whole clan was very excited and happy for her. It would have been a first in the family, 4 babies, a quadruplet would have been an endless source of joy.
Until one day, I found out my cousin was in the hospital and saw her babies pass on one after the other. She can’t grieve until she knew the one who survived, the miracle baby could go home with her.
She named her babies after the 4 gospel writers in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Luke is the miracle baby, who today either wants to be a doctor or a musician.
I remember those moments, whenever I read or hear stories like today. But most of the time, we dont talk about it in the family, and yet it never really goes away. I am sure for my mother, my sister, and my cousin, their own story never really goes away.
It is not natural to bury your child, but it happens as in everything in life, there are so many things we can't explain as to why they happen.
On Chrissy Teigen’s losing a baby and being open in sharing it to the world.
Soon, we will forget Chrissy Teigen’s story or this very heartwarming letter. It is the way our lives go on, we forget. The people in grief, they don’t move on, they can only choose to move forward.
The people who died in 2020 will be remembered. Not only those who died because of the coronavirus, the ones their families can’t say a proper goodbye or even bury. The ones who died not because of the coronavirus, but because of the pandemic, or the ones who lost their will to live.
People in grief, they don’t move on, they can only choose to move forward.
This year when the world paused, we, all of the world’s 7.8 billion people have a shared experience, the pandemic.
We are all connected, the grief of one person gives us a moment to feel, and for the person grieving, a moment to heal.
There are millions of stories to be told this year, some of triumph and defeat. I share with Chrissy Teigen, if and when you can, to have the courage to tell your stories.
I beg you to please share your stories and to please be kind to those pouring their shearts out. Be kind in general, as some won’t pour them out at all.
Someone could be reading, and someone needs to hear, the message of your stories can help another person who is in the same situation. If that alone is why things happen in our lives, maybe so we can continue to carry the light, no matter how our world is tethered in shadows.
With so much love, Naf