Guy Oliver Speaks

How do you say goodbye to a child—to your child? How do you tell your son goodbye for the last time? I am left with only questions and memories. Questions with no answers and memories that are malleable. Things that pose questions of what is real and what is imaginary.

There was so much left to do. And now you have gone. I hope you found your peace. I hope you found the respite you were so desperately seeking.

Rest now sweet child. Rest now. Lay your burden down and rest in the knowing that you are loved and always were.

– A Parent’s Lament

How, indeed? This, the first of so many laments I penned, now seems prophetic as I think back on the common rhetorical question I was asked innumerable times:

I can’t imagine. How do you do it?

Quite simply, it is love. Continue reading →

As humans, we are drawn to the light; we are not equipped to cope with the darkness indefinitely, and those who remain too long there do so at their own peril. I can honestly say that the days following the second anniversary of my son’s accident were some of the most difficult I encountered. Continue reading →

“Guy? Is it true?”

“I keep asking myself that same question.”

“What happened?

“There was an accident. He didn’t survive.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I can’t talk. I have to go.”

This conversation by Facebook IM with my friend Lacey, was the first of many that were repeated scores of times with seemingly countless individuals. The advantage of a ubiquitous communications system that enables you to reach almost anyone you know at any time of the day or night. Continue reading →