Who Do You Love?

Posted on September 17, 2020September 17, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

"Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways." -Stephen Vincent Benet This was one of my son Ben’s favorite quotes. He liked it so much...Read More

You Should Have Seen It In Color

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

Seeing something in color means you were there, that you got to have the experience for yourself. Nothing can replace being a part of a special event. Nothing can stop the drive for true patriots to honor their own. You...Read More

The Layers

Posted on February 7, 2020February 26, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

Like trees that fall in the forest, when we break we bow in different directions. If our foundation is firm it won’t change, only the direction in which we go after the fall changes. Where we land after the fall...Read More

Happy Heavenly Birthday

Posted on January 23, 2020January 23, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

At 3:02 am on January 20th, 1988, my son Ben was born dead. I had been given morphine to offset the pain of labor as I was prepped for an unplanned cesarean section. As soon as it hit my bloodstream,...Read More

20/20 in 2020

Posted on January 16, 2020January 16, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

Less than two weeks ago I turned my calendar over to the new year - 2020. The double meaning didn’t dawn on me right away - 20/20 equates to perfect vision. When I realized this, I had an ah-ha moment....Read More

Team WAA 2019

Posted on January 3, 2020February 26, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

On December 14th I attended Wreaths Across America at Arlington National Cemetery for the eleventh straight year. This is an annual event where Christmas wreaths are placed on graves in more than 1,500 cemeteries in the United States and places...Read More

From Deprivation to Cultivation

Posted on November 14, 2019February 26, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

A few weeks ago I was looking through some personal items and came across a picture a friend’s daughter colored for me. With the exception of a slight blue border, the entire page is colored red in the shape of...Read More

Brotherhood

Posted on November 7, 2019February 26, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

They asked if they could be present at my son’s funeral. They were the Midwest All Airborne Alliance. I had no clue who they were. They sounded dignified, and it hardly felt right to not allow them to be there...Read More

Signs

Posted on September 3, 2019February 26, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

I recently met up with an old friend to go canoeing. It had been about a year since we had seen each other. The last time we got together we hiked a bluff overlooking the Mississippi river. He endured the...Read More

The True Meaning

Posted on August 23, 2019February 26, 2020 by Jill Stephenson

I recently received an email from a friend of my son's heart recipient. It was brief, she had been thinking about me because it was the time of year when my Ben had died. She wasn’t sure if I still...Read More