Page 9 - 2018 Spring Issue

Join us in My Airy Fay

St. Louis, Missouri

for by Aqua Carnahan
TCF’s 41 National Conference
st

July 27-29, 2018

A weekend spent surrounded by other bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings is a unique experience that only can be
found at a TCF National Conference. It is a place where hope grows and friendships are made with others who truly understand.
With inspirational keynote speakers, abundant workshops for everyone’s wants and needs, and a remembrance candle lighting
program culminating with the annual Walk to Remember, this time of healing and hope is the gift we give ourselves. Join us as
together we remember and share the everlasting love we have for our precious children, siblings and grandchildren.

• Choose to attend over a hundred different workshops and sharing sessions, given by professionals and also individuals
just like you.
• Take advantage of “Healing Haven” to receive free personal services such as a massage.
• Discover the special art project, “100 Siblings Remembered,” commissioned as a tribute to our lost siblings, created by
Jessica Wilson.
• Craft items to commemorate the love for your family member in the “Crafty Corner”.
• Step away for a quiet moment of pause in the “Reflection Room”.
• Explore the TCF Marketplace offering items for purchase that are meaningful to all on the grief journey together. © andreiuc88 / stock.adobe.com
• Reflect back on the conference by thumbing through your 2018 Keepsake Memorial Journal.
Featuring Keynote Speakers

Nisha Zenoff, Ph.D. LMFT is a Basia Mosinski, MB MFA is the founder
California licensed marriage and and CEO of OneLife.Coach - Mind, Ah, there you go! You were a star
family counselor, psychotherapist, Body, & Spiritual Alignment Coach. She And you are a rose.
grief counselor, and dance/movement is TCF Newport Beach Chapter founder And the loss of you burns.
therapist and bereaved mother of and leader. Her stepson Logan died in A tiny little thing dancing on her toes. But whether or not I will it, the world still turns.
Victor Zenoff. She is the author of The 1993 in a head-on train collision; her
Unspeakable Loss: How Do You Live son Richard died in 2014 of a pulmonary Loose golden brown locks,
After a Child Dies? published in 2017. embolism on an airplane. Crazy fly-away hair, I close my eyes
Surrounding a face so delicate, fair. And remember a girl
Stéphane Gerson is a writer whose Chris Lourenco was only nine-years-old More precious than diamonds, lovely as a pearl.
memoir Disaster Falls: A Family History when his older brothers, Zachary 17 and
(Crown, 2017) explores the death of Alexander 14, were electrocuted during a Oh, there you are. And there you are.
his eight-year-old son Owen and its sailboat ride that struck low lying power And you are a star,
impact within his family. Gerson is also lines. Chris attended his first TCF national You are my star.
a historian at NYU, where he directs conference in Boston in 2005 and met With a presence like fireflies caught in a jar! With a presence like fireflies caught in a jar.
the Institute of French Studies. other surviving siblings who could relate I cannot keep you.
to what he was going through.
I must set you free I could not keep you.
But the joy of your life was a gift to me. But I won’t set you free.
Because in my heart, you are always with me.
Conference will be held at the Well, here I am.
Marriott St.
Louis Grand And the dust has settled. Aqua’s daughter, Casey Rae, passed away in July 2007 at the age of
800 Washington Ave The pain in my heart is an ugly nettle. 17 to a seizure. She relied on The Compassionate Friends,not only
St. Louis, Missouri 63101 There may be a hole for herself, but to direct concerned friends and family members to as
To make reservations
for the hotel, That is shaped like you an online resource. She is the proud mother and grandmother of two
call 800-397-1282 surviving daughters, a grandson and two granddaughters. She lives and
And it hurts, and I miss you but...there is nothing I can do.
works in South Carolina but is originally from Michigan, where her
Yes. Life goes on. heart remains. She spends most of her free time reading and spending
Register today online at compassionatefriends.org or by calling And the pain, it stays time with her partner of 12 years.
877.969.0010 to request a registration packet. But I learn to deal with it better each day.

8|We Need Not Walk Alone We Need Not Walk Alone|9