Sharing Solace - Established 2010, Conceived 2015, and Born 2018
When my daughter, Madelyn Elizabeth, was born May 19th, 2010 and then died in my arms just a few hours later. I KNEW that this angel was special {I’m a little biased, I know}. She touched so many lives during her very brief one…I just didn’t know the right outlet to carry on her life and legacy.
I spent the next 5 years grieving her death, healing my heart, and working to bring my Madelyn the siblings she deserved. To this day, Madelyn is an only child.
During our annual vacation in 2015 the concept of Sharing Solace came to me like a bolt of lightning. I believe that Madelyn knew I was ready, so she sent the idea down to me herself. This was the same time in my life I began to understand I couldn’t spend the rest of my life mad at everything and everyone that had what I thought I wanted.
I realized the gifts I received when Maddie was born - the gifts that once brought me so much comfort and solace - were now bringing me back to the pain and sorrow of losing her. I couldn’t keep seeing them every day and have a healthy mind {that realization in and of itself provided its own source of grief and guilt}. These gifts were not given to me to be put in a box in the back of a closet - but that’s where they sat.
I couldn’t really give these gifts away because many were personalized but I also couldn’t just throw them away because of the sentimental attachment. That birthed the concept of the two-piece token system: A piece to keep your sentimental memories with you always and a piece to symbolically release that ‘heavy on your heart’ grief.
From that moment in 2015 through 2018 I worked diligently to share the mission and concept of Sharing Solace while creating the physical token and building the online community. I just knew there were other people out there that NEEDED Sharing Solace in their lives.
Sharing Solace officially launched May 19, 2018 - Madelyn Elizabeth’s 8th birthday. I hope we’ve made Miss Maddie proud!