Labor Day 2007. It was as beautiful a fall day as you could ask for. Blue skies, light breeze, sunshine all around. Captain and I took the kids to Nelson, Wisconsin, to meet up with my mom and Baby Brother and his family. Just a laid back lazy day.
After brunch at the local restaurant, we drove down to Alma, Wisconsin, to the lock and dam to watch the river traffic. The kids all played tag around this wood kiosk sign telling the history of the lock and dam there. The adults lounged on the grass in the shade and caught up on each other's lives.
It was one of those day that I will never, ever forget. Not one detail. Because it was the last day I ever saw my niece, Sloane. I took a picture of her that day, and it remains my favorite photo that I have ever taken.
Sloaney Baloney, as she was called by her family, was sort of a surprise to Baby Brother and his wife. They had already adopted a beautiful daughter two years earlier and never expected to be pregnant, but God had other ideas. She blessed their lives for 15 short months before God wanted her back and took her home to Him on this day eight years ago.
My brother's family's strongest wish is that Sloane be remembered. For this reason, they set up an endowment fund in their local community in Sloane's name to help children as a tribute to their daughter. Turning their sorrow into something positive for others makes me so humbled, because I don't know if I would be that selfless in the same situation.
There is nothing that eases the grief of a parent who has lost a child--not one damn thing. I wish there was so I could do that for my brother and his wife. All I can do is let them now that I love them and I will always remember Sloane running around with her sister and cousin's on a beautiful, breezy Labor Day by the river.
Thank you, Jude, for this beautiful remembrance of Sloane. Chad and I are friends of Dan and Dana and happened to have our first daughter only a few months after Dana had Sloane. I struggled after Sloane died because I wanted to be around them but feared our Maddie would be a painful reminder of the angel they'd lost. Thankfully, God worked in all of us and Maddie became a bright spot whenever we were together. We've since moved from WI, but our girls miss Gen dearly and we'll always count Dan, Dana, and Gen among our dear friends!
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