After a drunk driver took my husband and both of my children, I stood trembling in the hospital parking lot and called my parents, barely able to keep the phone in my hand. My father listened in silence, then said, “It’s Jessica’s birthday today. We can’t come.”

library, and about a little girl named Lucy who smiled for the first time after losing her brother because someone handed her a dinosaur book.

The cemetery was quiet.

Not empty.

Quiet.

There is a difference.

I bought a smaller house two streets away. Every morning, I walk to the cemetery with coffee and tell them about the work. I tell them about the families.continue reading …