Respectance.com

It’s universally accepted that you cannot have a greater tragedy in your life than losing a child. There is always the denial, the pain of loss, the excruciating sadness, the ‘what ifs’, and of course the hours spent imagining who that child would have grown into.

The sad truth of the matter is that many of our members have lost babies and children. They have created loving and beautiful online tributes which have helped the families cope in their blackest hours. Many members even use the memorials to send their children messages, and to tell them how they are missed.

Have a look at the heart wrenching tributes to Olivia Perkins , and Baby Mark Brooks . The sadness and love behind them will change the way you look at your own lives.

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It must be devastating to lose a life partner. I know two people who have lost their loved ones far too early in life.

I’ve been watching one friend over the last 8 years as she battled terminal cancer with her husband, buried him and then tried to repiece her life with 4 children in tow. It’s been a long haul for her. Many people pushed her to date. She was not ready. She continued to wear her wedding rings, and devoted her life to raising her children and keeping his memory alive for them.

We spoke often of how hard it was for her. She told me that, “This isn’t like a divorce. I never fell out of love, I never wanted to be without him. He is always with me”. One day she met a gentle and friendly guy at her shop, and they began a friendship. She was scared and he had big shoes to fill. There was a third person in the room for a long while, and I think he’s still there.
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Our community at Respectance and Picalily continues to grow in ways that we never imagined. We originally launched targeting the North American audience and were quickly surprised by the global uptake of our new online memorial site. People have joined from all over the world including: Russia, Poland, Holland, Greece, Canada, and Great Britain

It is good to see that we are helping so many people, and that the emotional needs of people are the same regardless of nationality. It’s been really cool seeing how people make their member pages so unique by writing in their native languages and uploading their own music. Some great examples of popular international tributes are athlete Agata Mroz, and Greek actor Nikos Sergianopoulos.

Take a minute and create an online memorial for someone that you remember, an icon from your life. You’ll be surprised to see how many other people remember that person too.

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The LA Times has been compiling the statistics and biographical information of all of the California War dead in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s a sad task to have to do, but also a lovely gesture to those servicemen and women who have sacrificed their lives for the country they love. Here is a sample of the statistics for parts of California.

Have a look through the faces if you have a chance. I hope that not many are familiar faces to you. If they are please consider leaving your thoughts at an existing online memorial, or creating your own.

Have a look to some current Tributes:
* http://respectance.com/Victor_M_Cota
* http://respectance.com/Jessica_A_Ellis
* http://respectance.com/John_K_Daggett
* http://respectance.com/Matthew_W_Brown
* http://respectance.com/CherieMorton

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Homelessness is such a ‘touchy’ issue. People are homeless for many reasons. The saddest to me are those who chose to be homeless.

I have a friend who is a loving and good person with a good husband. They are both well educated. They run counter to the stereo type that most of us have in mind when we think about teenagers on the street, or run-a-way kids. They live in a nice home, with extended family about, in a small community, with good schools. They have two children, one an athlete and a scholar, the other not. The daughter has always been a ‘challenge‘ and at the age of almost 16 decided that living on the street would be preferable to her life at home. She craved the ‘freedom’ and ‘excitement’ of life on the streets.
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