Photo by our great friend, Laura Jelso Smith.
When our beloved Cecilia Rose passed away 11 years ago, I vowed that I would write about her or to her every year on her birthday, as a way to keep her memory alive as one of my children–however absent. This year, Kelley at The American Conservative very graciously allowed me to publish this.
Had things worked or happened differently, I would be celebrating the eleventh birthday of my daughter, Cecilia Rose Birzer, today. I can visualize exactly what it might be like. A cake, eleven candles, hats, cheers, goofiness, photos, and, of course, ice cream. I imagine that she would love chocolate cake–maybe a brownie cake—and strawberry ice cream. Her many, many siblings cheer here, celebrating the innumerable smiles she has brought the family. As I see her at the table now, I see instantly that her deep blue eyes are mischievous to be sure, but hilarious and joyous as well. Her eyes are gateways to her soul, equally mischievous, hilarious, and joyous. She’s tall and thin, a Birzer. She also has an over abundance of dark brown curls, that match her darker skin just perfectly. She loves archery, and we just bought her first serious bow and arrow. No matter how wonderful the cake, the ice cream, and the company, she’s eager to shoot at a real target.
She’s at that perfect age, still a little girl with little girl wants and happinesses, but on the verge of discovering the larger mysteries of the teenage and adult world. She cares what her friends think of her, but not to the exclusion of what her family thinks of her. She loves to dance to the family’s favorite music, and she knows every Rush, Marillion, and Big Big Train lyric by heart. She’s just discovering the joys of Glass Hammer. As an eleven-year old, she loves princesses, too, and her favorite is Merida, especially given the Scot’s talents and hair and confidence. She has just read The Fellowship of the Ring, and she’s anguished over the fate of Boromir. Aragorn, though—there’s something about him that seems right to her.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/birzer/hope-on-a-rose/
Stormfields 
Thanks for your post at TAC. Folks rarely discuss such things. We lost our little Anderson, stillborn, on August 5, 2009. We don’t know what happened. They wanted an autopsy, we declined; it didn’t really matter. We celebrated his 9th birthday on Sunday; its never easy. There isn’t anger; just a deep loss I can’t explain. Few talk about it; even fewer remember. As you stated, his mother is the strongest person I know. We cope in different ways, we started an endowment at the hospital to help other families in similar situations, e.g. paying for headstones. His four siblings never knew him or ever held him; he was our first. Yet, we speak of him often and they all share his middle name, Kolbe, after St. Maximilian. We, too, believe, his family looks after him and St. Max.
Happy birthday to Cecilia and Anderson.