The Burial

Since we lost twin babies, we went ahead and made a burial box for both of them, even though we only had the body of one of the twins to bury. Our other little one was too tiny to identify because he/she died so early on. My husband and I decided to do this ceremony by ourselves and picked a beautiful Maple tree in the canyon near our home for the burial site. We walked to site, dug a small hole, blessed it with prayers, laid the burial box inside, took some photos, and then prayed through a wonderful liturgy (miscarriage memorial) produced by the Episcopal Church. The text of that service can be found here: http://www.episcopalchicago.org/about/about-admin/documents/HannahsHopesRachelsTears.pdf .

Here's a prayer from it:
We commend to your mercy, O God, our child N., that death may be for her the gate of life and peace with you. At your heavenly banquet, may we rejoice with her and all your saints to see you face to face, one holy and undivided Trinity in glory everlasting. Amen.

We cried quite a lot and hugged. Finally we placed the soil over our little one's box and placed flowers and rocks (a Jewish tradition) on the burial site, one rock for each living family member (3). It gave me a sense of having honored my babies the best way that I could with a sacred rite.

Now I blow a kiss and remind my little ones how much I love and miss them every time I walk past that precious burial site. Tears often flow, bidden or unbidden.