Changing the Channel
Sometimes I am brave enough to listen to the radio in the car when driving alone; not often, but occasionally. When I do, I turn the volume to the level I like and flip through various channels, depending on my mood: serious – classical or talk radio; a little more light-hearted – 98.7 alternative (long always my favorite when I do listen); mainstream – 107.7; reminiscent – 105.5 classic rock. 98.7 is the most difficult to listen to because it plays the songs that we listened to as Hans and Zatha grew up, and plays many of the songs in Hans’s videos. My sadness is like listening to the radio. The volume is always on, like my grief. But the channel can change, like my mood every day since Hans’s death. And I have two new channels to introduce.
Today I am changing the channel from CaringBridge.org to HansLoewen.com. CaringBridge served an incredibly wonderful purpose when Hans had his accident and for these two years since he died. The site is supremely popular for families whose loved ones are experiencing medical emergencies or long-term medical issues. I am forever thankful for that efficient and easy-to-use platform for sharing with you, our friends and family, the trials of Hans’s accident and death.
CaringBridge has changed its privacy settings, now requiring visitors to set up a username and password. My continued writing has outlived the purpose of the site, so I have set up HansLoewen.com, a new platform to save my posts from CaringBridge, to share new photos, and to catalogue and preserve information about Hans and Zatha, for myself, for our family, and anyone interested in the life of a grieving family. It also serves my goal of learning new things, like how to set up a website!
The site, www.HansLoewen.com, is still under construction but I am hopeful you will take a look. Just like any proud parent who wants to share their beautiful children with the world (and we should always try to share good things with the world), I am sharing my kids. Right now I’m fighting a good bit of what another grieving mom calls “milestone envy.” Sharing milestones is not a new thing. People have been sending out announcements (for births, deaths, graduations, engagements, marriages, etc.) since at least my grandparents’ era. Keep sharing. I will too.
The second channel I’d like to introduce is Zatha’s YouTube channel and her most recent movie -- a 15-mile training run for the Transylvania 50K. Zatha amazes me on a daily basis with her continued positivity, despite the death of her best friend and brother. She’s a hard-charging, always going, always learning Marine, and a precious, loving daughter. In the spirit of her baby brother, she bought herself a GoPro and made an awesome video. I couldn’t help but smile throughout the entire movie! Surriously! Love my little Z.
#ShineLikeHans #SmileLikeZatha
