Waiting for Hope

2011 November 29

by admin

Last summer, not long after Lee had moved into a small house in northern Minnesota, his new neighbor called across the shared fence. Lee and the woman traded names and basic details, the pleasantries of young, suburban parents scouting playmates for their children. And then they discovered a similarity, an understanding each would have never wished in the other. Lee and his neighbor had both recently lost their spouses; each is learning to process their grief while raising children alone.

Lee, a meticulous meteorologist, can name the very specific ways his wife’s suicide has changed his experience of the world. He speaks to more strangers, because he misses adult conversation.When he is working through the night – while the babysitter is bathing his four year-old, the child sobbing through a fever – he cries looking at the photograph of his wife on his desk. Those particular tears come from fear, frustration, anger. His work is by contract, freelance, so the loss of his wife’s income meant the loss of family health care and the accumulation of over ten thousand dollars in medical bills in the last year.

“I don’t want to win the lottery, but I worry about this winter’s heating bill,” Lee said. “You save the aces for the last part of the game, and I’ve pulled my aces.”

In the summer sun, Lee’s neighbor understood.

“Have you heard of The Liz Logelin Foundation?” she asked. Lee had not, and right there, over a fence in a pair of backyards, emerged the best reason for the LLF: reaching out of a similar tragedy, one can reveal a source of hope.

This holiday season change someone’s life. Give to the Liz Logelin Foundation. A donation of $25, $50, $100 or even $250 will make a profound impact on somone’s life.

Donate now and end Lee’s wait for hope.

Thank you,

Matt Logelin
President and Founder

Lee’s story was told by Kate Erickson who lives and writes in NYC.

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Waiting for Hope

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