The latter part of May each year our family lights and releases sky lanterns. We do so to honor the life and memory of our daughter, Madeline Grace.
Madeline was born prematurely in May of 2017 and succumbed to neonatal sepsis in a NICU in Guatemala City a few short days later... arriving too early and departing far too soon. Her time with us was agonizingly brief. Nevertheless, her life made an indelible impact upon us. She fought with remarkable intensity, "raging against the dying of the light," until her final breath. She left us to carry forward her light.
Madeline was on this Earth for five days. Her paternal grandmother (featured in a recent Mother's Day blog post) walked this world for a little over five decades. Yet, in a way, neither was constrained by the boundaries of time. Both, by the manner in which they lived, continue- even in their absence- to challenge us to be better.
Their examples call us to live and love intentionally and intensely.
Their memories call us to live a legacy, to leave a legacy.
Top photo by Leon Contreras on Unsplash.
Bottom photo courtesy of blogger's back.