Feb 16, 2023
If Brooke was asked to describe her daughter, Libby, in one
word, she selected ‘Joy’. Even as a baby, she was always happy. Her
favorite phrase was, ‘This is the best day ever!’ The most amazing
thing about Libby, however, was that she truly wanted everyone
around her to have ‘the best day ever as well’ and she spent her
time making sure that it was the best that she could make it.
When 10-year-old Libby died suddenly in a car accident last year,
Brooke was devastated. Brooke thought that she had known grief. In
fact, after losing both her sister and sister-in-law suddenly
several years before, she lost her dad and step-mom within days of
each other just months before Libby’s accident. This grief,
however, was different. Libby was Brooke’s mini-me, her little
shadow. Brooke felt like she didn’t even know who she was without
Libby.
After Libby died, Brooke was constantly being asked how she was
doing by well-meaning people. It was honestly overwhelming to try
to answer them so Brooke did the thing that felt natural to her -
Brooke wrote. Initially, it just seemed to be a good way to let
people know how she was doing, but soon it became more than that.
Soon, strangers began to read what she wrote on her grievingmommy.com blog as well
as her @grievingmommy social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook,
and YouTube.
Brooke began making videos and even started an online virtual
support group. She is currently even writing a book which will be
titled, ‘Grief Sucks, but Your Life Doesn’t Have To.’ In the depths
of her own grief, Brooke is working to make the lives of other
people just a little bit better. Brooke knows that she might not be
able to make others have ‘the best day ever,’ but we both know that
Libby would be proud of her mom as she tries.