Sending love in a candle

October 15th is the international 'wave of light' remembrance day, where it is encouraged that at 7pm everyone lights a candle in memory of the babies and infants taken too soon.

James and I attended the remembrance ceremony held at Pinegrove Cemetery in Minchinbury, NSW. The event was hosted by Guardian Funerals and Angel Gowns Australia. It was a beautiful ceremony, and the songs they played made me tear up. It was not long until a box of tissues circulated the chapel for all the grieving parents.

Whilst I was at the service, I was finally able to meet Fiona. Fiona is the founder of Angel Gowns and it was her that heard my story and hand-delivered a beautiful wrap and gown the very next day for Sebastian to be buried in. It was so nice to be able to thank her for her efforts in person. I truly can't express my gratitude enough for that organisation and for Fiona's commitment (I recently heard a rumour that she is nominated for Australian of the Year, which I truly believe she deserves. If this is able to be voted on, I strongly encourage everyone to vote for her - she is an inspiring woman).

The songs that were played were all very heart warming, and I particularly liked one (gone too soon by Daughtry). I have placed the list of them all here, if you are interested in hearing them I recommend looking them up - have some tissues ready!

During the service we were all supported to write on a candle and place it on the grass to make a giant angel, it looked beautiful once it was all lit up. There was already a candle with Sebastian's name on it, so we wrote a little message each to him. Mine read "we miss you so much" and James' read, "you're the best little guy ever". We carefully selected where on the angel the candles should be placed (James chose on the wing in the corner and slightly away from the others so he could see it later when it was lit; I chose to place the candle at the very top in the halo, to signify him as being in the safest part of an angel).  I also wrote a couple more candles out, one for the little baby girl (Madison) who passed away in 2012, whom we received a bear in honour of; the other for a friend whose baby boy, James had also passed away a couple of years ago.

I would also like to thank my many friends and family for lighting a candle also. It meant a lot to me to see you all light one to remember our little boy and the other babies who grew their wings too soon. The love and support we receive every day is amazing, and to be honest we wouldn't be where we are without you. I truly am blessed to have you all in my life.

Here are the candles people had lit for Sebastian.

And this beautiful candle that has been personalised was a gift from my cousin Kylie (yes, the same cousin who organised the ribbons for Sebastian's funeral), she is such a beautiful person and has been an amazing support to me. I look forward to lighting Sebastian's candle on special occasions and when I miss him (OK, I will try not to light it every day!).