The Compassionate Friends

Some of you may know about the support group that I am heavily involved in, The Compassionate Friends. For those who don't, it is a monthly meeting group for parents who have lost a child of any age...parents supporting other parents. It also includes siblings and grandparents. It was a God-send to me in my darkest moments. It has been, and continues to be, a huge part of my healing process and inner peace.

Every year on the second Sunday in December, the organization sponsors a national candle lighting for the public, in memory of all children who have passed away. It's a beautiful event and can be very emotional.

I've gone every year since my son passed away in July of 2006, and I've also become involved with the local branch by helping with the newsletter, creating and maintaining the local chapter website, and sometimes leading meetings.

Below are some photos I took of this past weekend's candle lighting event that I wanted to share with my readers. :)

If you or someone you know might benefit from TCF, you can visit their national site for more info and a local directory of chapters: http://www.compassionatefriends.org/

You can also view our local South Bay, Los Angeles chapter's website: http://www.tcfsbla.org/

I'm also happy to answer any questions about the organization that you may have. :)

The Compassionate Friends - Balloon Liftoff 2009

I belong to the South Bay California chapter of The Compassionate Friends...this is a peer support group for those who have lost a child, grandchild, or sibling. I also run the chapter's website at http://www.tcfsbla.org/. There's a link on that site to the national TCF site where more info can be found if you or someone you know may find help from this group.

Tonight was the annual balloon liftoff. This beautiful event consists of friends and family coming together to write messages to our beloved children, tying them to balloons, and releasing them into the sky for our children in the heavens to catch. It's a very touching event and has a lot of symbolism wrapped in it.

I captured a few images from the event that I will eventually put up on the TCF South Bay website...here's a couple that I wanted to share here. :)

The Compassionate Friends - South Bay Chapter

For those unaware, I participate in a support group called The Compassionate Friends (http://www.compassionatefriends.org/)

It's a support group for those who have either lost a child, grandchild, or sibling. This group has been one of a very few things in my life that has kept me sane throughout the loss of my beautiful son, Avery James.

I recently volunteered to be webmaster for the South Bay chapters website...so basically I have to create it from the ground up, and then continue to maintain it. I love giving back to this group, and I am constantly looking for more ways I can help...this so far has given me the most fulfillment because I know what it is like when you first lose a child - and you want to read as much as you can on the subject because you are just constantly looking to grasp onto anything that makes sense anymore...

Having a multitude of information is extremely helpful, especially when you read things written by others who have experienced the same tragedies...you finally find someone you can relate to again, that understands the extreme emotions that you feel...

For many, with the technology age we're in, searching for information on the web is key...many of us do not want to leave our homes, especially the first few months, and so finding information from the comfort of our home computers is very important...

The national website is wonderful and has tons of resources - but it's also comforting to be able to connect to something local to you....

I am so excited to have responsibility over this website, and I'm really excited to see what it becomes down the line...I have tons of ideas and I just can't wait to implement them all.

For starters, I wanted to share this picture of Caydan that I've decided to use for the framed pages...this was from the 2008 TCF Candle Lighting. This is an annual event held around the world in memory of children and siblings of any age who have passed away.

You can view the website and keep up with its progress here: http://www.tcfsbla.org