Capture Your Grief Day 4

Day 4. Most Treasured Item

My most treasured item actually falls under a different day's theme, and since I have more than one treasured item, I will choose a different one for this day.

Her handprints.  Partly because they are part of her.  Party because of the story of HOW I got them.  It's long....

The hospital took footprints but not handprints.  The funeral home gave us a brochure about getting what is called a Thumbie - it was one of the few things to brighten my day and I really wanted one.  I decided to get one of her handprint since we already had her footprint from the hospital.

Best decision ever.  I LOVE my Thumbie -it IS my most treasured item, I wear it daily.  But I'll save the picture for the day for jewelry.

I have a picture of Sierra that hangs on our wall:

I will never take it down, and I always wished I had a similar picture of Adelyn.  Given that Sierra is sleeping in it, I could have a picture like this, if only the hospital had called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.  They always take pictures of hands and feet too.

One day it dawned on me that the funeral home must have copies of her handprints since my charm has them on it.  I thought that although I don't have photos of her hands and feet, I do have the prints so maybe I could make some sort of collage.  So I decided to call and ask for the handprints.  That was hard.  The receptionist said she would look into it and call me if she found them (it was a few months at least later).  She never called back.

Before I had the chance to call again, my cousin stopped over with this:

She, like always, had the same idea as me. She then shared with me HOW she got the handprints  - she physically went to the funeral home with her son (who was around 2 at the time) and basically demanded them, probably in tears as she did it.  She gave me the whole file they had on her.  Seeing her name written on it next to the prints made me happy.  I love seeing her name, and it proves she existed.

Seeing my daughter's handprints for the first time took my breath away. For that reason, both the copies I have of her handprints and this photo collage that now hangs on my wall between the ones we have of Sierra and Coen, are irreplaceable to me.