When the Storm Hits

Called "When the Storm Hits" by Joanne Cacciatore, Founder of MISS Foundation: 

The death of a child is a tragedy that seems largely unexpected in Western civilization.  It brings an unspoken disquietude and life is forever, changed.  How can a person-a mother, father, grandparent or sibling-possible prepare for a tragedy of this magnitude?  The storm of grief looks much like Mother Nature's wrath.  The death of a child wreaks havoc on a family, both individually and collectively.  It ruthlessly tears apart our ideals, values, beliefs, innocence, and immunity.  It awakens unanswered, and unthinkable, questions of faith.  It requires a person to summon every morsel of strength to survive just one more day in the child's absence.  It can savagely destroy our old identity, making us face a new and frightening reality.  It is the unthinkable.

It is likely that grief has left parents feeling as if their 'town' has been destroyed, their constitution dismantled.  The feel 'rebuilt' (reborn) as a new 'home' (person).  The new place is unfamiliar to them.  It will take tears, time, work, and patience to reacquaint with the new "home" in which they live.

Eventually, the city's renovation is complete.  An occasional moment of joy may be reborn within the lives, homes, and buildings of the new community.  Like the bereaved family, communities will never forget the thunderous demon that changed their lives so dramatically.

Eventually, with the love and support of others, tranquility and security are recaptured.  Hope is discovered.  But life will never, ever be the same again.



"In order to experience the rainbow, we must first survive the storm."