

Milestones in the Shadow of Loss
On a December morning 8 years ago, my 16-year-old son T.J. died by suicide. T.J. was the middle of our three sons. He left behind 2 brothers— 13-year-old Matt and 17-year-old John. Since that time, we have moved through many of life’s milestones without T.J. There are always so many mixed emotions ranging from true joy to a punch-in-the-gut sadness at the realization that we are moving through yet another milestone without T.J. here with us. Even harder is the understanding