Worldwide Candle Lighting

http://www.compassionatefriends.org/..._Lighting.aspx

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting®, held annually the second Sunday in December, this year December 14, unites family and friends around the globe as they light candles for one hour to honor and remember children who have died at any age from any cause. As candles are lit at 7 p.m. local time, creating a virtual wave of light, hundreds of thousands of persons commemorate and honor the memories of children in a way that transcends all ethnic, cultural, religious, and political boundaries.

Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the Worldwide Candle Lighting, a gift from TCF to the bereavement community, creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died, but will never be forgotten.

The Worldwide Candle Lighting started in the United States in 1997 as a small Internet observance but has since swelled in numbers as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance.

Please help spread the word about this tremendous event and invite anyone to light a candle at 7 p.m. for one hour wherever they may be.

Back in February 2003, my 12 year old nephew was killed in an auto accident. My brother joined a local chapter of Compassionate Friends as a support group and that is how we learned of this yearly event.This year I will burn three candles - one for Kenny (my nephew), one for Chuck (my husband), and one for Paul (my brother) - all children who died before their parents.

Parents do not expect to bury their own children...