Congrats, Grammy Tami

Grammy Tami just gave us word that she found out last night she won a major poetry contest. She submitted one of her poems, The Sorority No One Wishes To Join, to the Inspirit Poetry Contest. She found out yesterday that her poem--written about Dave's sister when her daughter died during this time last year--was the winner of a $500 grand prize and will be published!

Congrats, Grammy Tami! We're proud of your accomplishment!

Here's the poem:

The Sorority No One Wishes To Join
They arrived one at a time,
bearing a casserole dish
or cake in their hands;
these women who have lost a child
came to console a new member.
The dormant debt of compassion
from their own past needed
fulfillment; and so,
with tear-stained cheeks,
those dignified,
Christic women enfolded
her in their arms – knowing –
all that could be done was
to come and to hold and to weep,
to shed their tears together
in compassionate relief.

When she’s ready, she too
will make initiation calls,
holding cake or casserole at
the door in her outstretched hands,
discovering the aching pain
for her child assuaged when she
graces another’s world of grief
with the inherent hope
her presence may bring;
then her pain will subside.
Giving freely what was freely
given, she pays her dues.
Once given the consolation
of shared grief, these survivors
go as God’s hands and feet.

~Tami Vrbas~
c. 2006

PS - This coming Thursday, December 14, is a very bittersweet anniversary for us. It is the year-to-date of the beginning of Maya's eternal life with her Lord. For us, it is a solemn reminder that we miss her very much. So, we will be both celebrating her new life and mourning her young life here on Earth that day. We'll have a special post just for her that day. Promise.