I've been wanting to make a shadow box for Lillian for a while now but haven't had a chance to. So, since we were heading on a mission for some autumn flowers for her grave, I decided to see what Michaels had in the way of shadow boxes.
We picked out some pretty flower arrangements and a few packs of ladybug stickers (for my journal) and headed to the frame section.
When we got there, to my surprise, they were on sale for 40% off! Woo hooo!! We can't NOT get one! So we picked out a nice sized one and were on our way.
When we got home later, I sat down to work on it, I still wasn't sure what I wanted to include inside of it, so I braved the empty nursery where we keep all of our special things that we got from the hospital and the funeral home. I sat down and felt all the memories and emotions come flooding back. I picked up some notes and read through them, mistake number one. I could start to feel the lump in my throat start to form. I read about how special our little girl was to everyone and how big of an impact she had on our family. It took me back to the time of it being so new and painful. Time has been doing wonders for us and has healed us tremendously but, reading this stuff and going through her things just took me all the way back as if it were yesterday. I opened yet box we got from the hospital, mistake number two. I pulled out her little dress, cap, and booties that she wore. By this time Brian was standing by, sensing this could get ugly quick. He's getting all too good at that. I couldn't hold it in any longer. Tears starting streaming down my face as the memories came pouring in. I never saw her in this dress but this is what she's wearing in all the pictures we have of her. I had brought a few things to the hospital with us, but since she was so little, the outfits wouldn't have fit her. So we just let the bereavement staff choose what they had on hand. They later brought all of these treasures to us to cherish forever.
After seeing these sentimental items, I knew that I had to use them. All of the other things were what I had wanted to use with her and dreamed if dressing her in but these were actually hers. They are irreplaceable and therefore, need a special place rather than stuffed in a box. I dried my tears and grabbed the pink knit cap, white booties, teddy bear, funeral program, and of course the white, hand-made dress she wore. Brian and I carefully pinned the items into the shadowbox, attached the back, and turned it over to look at it. Perfect.
We found an empty spot on the wall downstairs and hung it up. It makes me so happy to see it and I will think of her every time pass it.
We picked out some pretty flower arrangements and a few packs of ladybug stickers (for my journal) and headed to the frame section.
When we got there, to my surprise, they were on sale for 40% off! Woo hooo!! We can't NOT get one! So we picked out a nice sized one and were on our way.
When we got home later, I sat down to work on it, I still wasn't sure what I wanted to include inside of it, so I braved the empty nursery where we keep all of our special things that we got from the hospital and the funeral home. I sat down and felt all the memories and emotions come flooding back. I picked up some notes and read through them, mistake number one. I could start to feel the lump in my throat start to form. I read about how special our little girl was to everyone and how big of an impact she had on our family. It took me back to the time of it being so new and painful. Time has been doing wonders for us and has healed us tremendously but, reading this stuff and going through her things just took me all the way back as if it were yesterday. I opened yet box we got from the hospital, mistake number two. I pulled out her little dress, cap, and booties that she wore. By this time Brian was standing by, sensing this could get ugly quick. He's getting all too good at that. I couldn't hold it in any longer. Tears starting streaming down my face as the memories came pouring in. I never saw her in this dress but this is what she's wearing in all the pictures we have of her. I had brought a few things to the hospital with us, but since she was so little, the outfits wouldn't have fit her. So we just let the bereavement staff choose what they had on hand. They later brought all of these treasures to us to cherish forever.
After seeing these sentimental items, I knew that I had to use them. All of the other things were what I had wanted to use with her and dreamed if dressing her in but these were actually hers. They are irreplaceable and therefore, need a special place rather than stuffed in a box. I dried my tears and grabbed the pink knit cap, white booties, teddy bear, funeral program, and of course the white, hand-made dress she wore. Brian and I carefully pinned the items into the shadowbox, attached the back, and turned it over to look at it. Perfect.
We found an empty spot on the wall downstairs and hung it up. It makes me so happy to see it and I will think of her every time pass it.
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