I have been quiet again....  So often there's not much to say... Its just a time of hanging on...  I really felt these words this morning and wanted to share them....   To me this acknowledges how much it hurts to bury a child....  We do go on yes... still it hurts... and that's just the way it is...  I hope it comforts you as it did me to read the words these parents from years past wrote about their loss... the love they have for their children....         Subject: Presidents and Bereaved Parents My Dear Compassionate Friends,       President's Day reminds us that anyone can experience grief from the death of their precious children. Twenty four of our forty three Presidents and their wives were bereaved parents. Below is some of what is recorded about several of their thoughts and feelings.   Thomas Jefferson had 6 children. 4 died before age 2. A fifth child, Mary, also known as Polly died at the age of 25 while he was president.           "Who, then, can so softly bind up the wound of another as he, who has felt the same wound himself" ~Thomas Jefferson *****   Our 14th president, Franklin Pierce, a NH native, lost two sons in infancy. His wife's grief was so great that he resigned from the Senate. Years later while campaigning for the presidency he witnessed the death of their only surviving child, Benjamin when he was run over by a train. Mrs. Pierce collapsed from grief and was unable to attend the inauguration 2 months later. She secluded herself in an upstairs bedroom for more than half of her husband's term in office. *****   Our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln had four sons, two died while he was alive.  At age 11 William died. President Lincoln saw his son's death as punishment for the turmoil of the country and the Civil War that was raging. His wife was distraught and never again entered the rooms where William died and was waked. After his death she wrote a friend," Our home is very beautiful, the grounds around us are enchanting, the world still smiles, yet the charm is dispelled--everything appears a mockery, the idolized one is not with us, he has fulfilled his mission and we are left desolate. When I allow myself to realize that he has passed away, my question to myself is 'can life be endured?' "    President Lincoln wrote " In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all...it comes with bitterest agony. Perfect relief is not possible except with time. You cannot realize that you will ever feel better...and yet this is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. to know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. I have experienced enough to know what I say." *****   Grover Cleveland had 6 children. His son Oscar died at 20 during his presidency. His daughter Ruth died ten years later at the age of 13. The public loved "Baby Ruth" as she was called, in her honor the candy bar "Babe Ruth" was named. *****   Our 30th President, Calvin Coolidge had two sons. While in office his 16 year old son Calvin Jr received a blister on his foot after playing tennis. Five days later he died from blood poisoning. President Coolidge wrote in his autobiography,"When he went, the power and the glory of the presidency went with him. I do not know why such a price was extracted for occupying the White House." His wife wrote a poem on the fifth anniversary of his death. Because many bereaved mothers often wrote her, she sent it for publication to Good Housekeeping magazine in hopes that it would bring comfort to others. The magazine sent her a check for $250. She kept the check until her son John's marriage. She gave it to him telling him to buy something for his home, that Calvin would like that.            The Open Door by Grace Coolidge   You, my son, have shown me God. Your kiss upon my cheek has made me feel the gentle touch of Him who leads us on. The memory of your smile, when young, reveals His face, as mellowing years come on apace. And when you went before, you left the Gates of Heaven ajar that I might glimpse, approaching from afar, the glories of His Grace. Hold, Son, my hand, guide me along the path, that, coming, I may stumble not, nor roam, nor fail to show the way which------leads us home.   *****   Dwight Eisenhower had two children. His son Doud Dwight known as "Icky" died at Camp Mead in Maryland at the age of 4 from Scarlet Fever. In President Eisenhower's autobiography written 49 years after his son's death he stated, "With his death a pall fell over the camp. When we started the long trip back to Denver for his burial, the entire command turned out in respect for Icky. We were completely crushed - it was a tragedy from which we never recovered. I do not know how others have felt when facing the same situation, but I have never known such a blow. Today when I think of it, even as I now write of it, the keenness of my loss comes back to me as fresh and terrible as it was in that long dark day soon after Christmas, 1920." *****   President John F Kennedy buried two of his four children, one stillborn and one who died shortly after his birth.Shortly before his fateful trip to Dallas, Kennedy slipped away to Boston. He wanted no one with him when he visited the grave of his son, Patrick in nearby Brookline. No reporters or security were allowed. Only a close friend went who retells the president gazing upon the spot and remarking "He seems so alone here." After President Kennedy was killed and buried in Arlington cemetery Ms. Kennedy quietly reburied the baby in the same location.   President Kennedy's own mother buried four of her children and his father Joseph wrote the following: "When the young bury the old, time heals the pain and sorrow; but when the process is reversed, the sorrow remains forever." *****   President George Herbert Bush and his wife Barbara suffered the death of their daughter at the age of three from cancer. Barbara Bush wrote; "The death of a child is so painful, both emotionally and spiritually, that I truly wondered if my own heart and spirit would ever heal...I soon learned that I could help myself best by helping others. It wasn't until Robin died that I truly threw myself into volunteer work. That precious little girl left our family a great legacy. I know George and I care more for every living person because of her. We learned firsthand the importance of reaching out to help because others had reached out to us during the crucial time." She also wrote, " So I am glad, not that my loved one has gone, but that the earth she laughed and lived on was my earth too. That I had known and loved her, and that my love I'd shown. Tears over her departure yes but also a smile that I walked with her a little while."   I know that today I will look at honoring not only those who served as our presidents but those presidents and their families who endured a pain that we unfortunately understand....the death of precious children.   Wishing you peace,   Thank you Maureen for sharing this with me so that I could share it with others...