Remembering a Beloved Child

I recently returned from a special project. Much of last week’s project in Colorado was standard home organizing – sorting, decluttering, organizing, containing – helping the client use her space as effectively as possible. But it also included the very emotional work of going through items that either belonged to or were given by a beloved child who died last year. This client has been a dear friend for almost three decades; I knew her child and was personally impacted by the death.

Clothes, journals, mementos, artwork, letters, pictures…items mundane and extraordinary. Our loved ones leave behind the stuff of their lives. In so many ways it’s hard to let go, especially when a death is recent and/or untimely. My friend and I spent time talking about her child as we looked through boxes and decided what to do with items. In a colorful bin at the top of the closet my friend put clothes that her child wore; when she wants to feel especially close to her child, she puts on those clothes. The ornament pictured here was a Christmas gift six months before the child died; it serves as the star above a Christmas creche, and otherwise catches the sun coming through a window, reflecting the light the child brought into this world.

The work of Spirit & Space touches my heart in so many ways. What a gift and honor to accompany someone when they are sorting through their beloved’s belongings. It’s work I approach with reverence.