This is How I Love My Daughter

At yesterday's fair I met a woman who, many years ago as a Labor and Delivery nurse, risked her job on multiple occasions by taking pictures of stillborn babies for their families in a time when dead babies were whisked away after birth. Her daughter told the story as she stood there teary-eyed and too emotional to share it herself.

I met a couple who were away for a long weekend after a recent loss and should be preparing for the birth of their baby in just a few weeks.

I met a woman whose close friend gave birth to an anencephalic baby years ago. She was strongly pressured to abort her baby. When she should have been focusing on her pregnancy, her baby and herself, she was forced to fight for her right to even keep her pregnancy and her baby.

I make soap. With my soap, I make connections. And hopefully, through those connections, Ella and I make some differences.

The platform of Ella's Soapbox does not belong to me. It is a place where so many people have shared their own stories of love, loss and survival and been heard with love and grace by me and by the people who were lucky to be standing close enough to share with us.

I am infinitely grateful for the people I've met because of Ella. I will never stop talking about her. I cannot send her to her first day of school, talk her through heartbreak or watch her conquer the world, but I can do this.

This is how I love my daughter.