Compassionate Friends

A good resource to find support in your area if you have a loved one that has died is www.compassionatefriends.org

They have support meetings with other people who have lost a loved one too early. No one knows your pain and grief like someone else who has walked in your shoes.

I have found it very helpful to talk to someone else whose child was murdered when my son died. No one could understand what I felt when I thought of my son being kidnapped and held captive for 18 hours. No one knew how I felt when I thought of Travis being tortured and locked in a trunk for hours and hours on a hot summer day. It still brings big tears to my eyes. No one knew how it feels to me when I think of my son during his last minutes... what was he thinking? Did his thoughts pass over me for a second? I miss him every single moment of every single day.

So many things happen in my day that bring a memory of him. My only son, how I loved him so much.

Compassionate Friends and Parents of Murdered Children helped me. There were people there that knew what shoes I walked in. They didn't run away when they saw me coming down the hall for fear of not knowing what to say.

I even had one woman come to me and say, " I know how you feel, I lost a cat one time"... I just about went into shock. A CAT??? I even felt sorry for some people's ignorance.

If someone you know loses someone close to them in a tragic accident, please, if you don't know what to say, just love on them and say nothing.

Kim