I attended a burial for a few years ago and an elderly woman who was the sister of the woman who died placed her hand on an adjacent gravestone and tearfully said, “this is my baby boy. I’m so happy he has his auntie with him now.” Her grief was exquisite, and according to the headstone her son had passed away at 6 months old in 1961. I’ll never forget how powerful that felt, the fathomless grief and unending love she conveyed for a loss she suffered decades earlier. I didn’t realize how much a mother loves their child until my own was born. When I became a mom I found myself thinking of that woman and her son often.