Reading to Remember Magnolia
January 24-27
Read with your kids, to a loved one or
on your own.
Use that moment to think of Magnolia
and say her name.
Take a picture and share your reading
with us on Facebook or twitter:
Facebook event page
@Kendra_sibley and/or #readingformagnolia
Facebook event page
@Kendra_sibley and/or #readingformagnolia
It’s approaching the
second anniversary of Magnolia’s death and we continue to remember and honor
her every time we pick up a book in our family. We have been reading all of
Magnolia’s favorite books with Azalea, admiring their gnawed edges and
remembering the hours of reading and rereading with Magnolia seated in our
laps. It makes us so happy to share
these favorite books with Magnolia’s little sister.
Delphinium has grown
so much as an independent reader this year.
We admire the ways she curls up for hours with a favorite book and the
ways that she engages Azalea in books, as we imagine how much Magnolia would be
enjoying reading with her sister at nearly 4 years of age now. The reading we do with Delphinium and Azalea
is always part of keeping Magnolia’s memory present in our home.
When we think back to
January two years ago, we have so many wonderful images of our lively, vibrant
daughter: Magnolia pulling a chair over
to the light switch and climbing up to flick the switch on and off, over and
over again. Magnolia splashing around
gleefully in the bath with Delphinium.
Magnolia dancing around the living room with us. Magnolia painting intently, mixing colors on
her paper. Magnolia bringing a tissue to
Delphinium to wipe her tears. Magnolia
bouncing on the bed, then reading Down by the Bay on her own before bedtime on
January 26th. And then she
was gone, over night.
This weekend, as we
approach the second anniversary of her death on the 27th, we would
love for your family to join us in reading for Magnolia to keep her memory
alive. We welcome any and all forms of reading: reading to your children at
night, reading to your partner, reading by yourself. We just ask that you take a moment to think
about Magnolia and to say her name out loud, to make her present in your
reading in the days leading up to the anniversary of her death.
And after you do,
please let us know about it. Post a
picture of your reading self and family on Facebook, send a tweet to
@kendra_sibley and add/or tweet with the hashtag #readingformagnolia, send an
e-mail with a note letting us know what you read and whom you read it to. We’ve looked so many times at the photos from
last year (posted in Reading to Remember Magnolia 2014) and it gives us great comfort to see
so many people reading and thinking about our wonderful daughter.
Many of the ways that
we continue to remember Magnolia have to do with reading. Her New York Public Library fund (http://www.nypl.org/Magnolia) continues to grow, raising money to purchase children’s
books for Bronx public libraries. We
are hosting an infant and toddler reading room at our school’s Read-a-Thon this
weekend, and giving away board books to encourage early literacy. We are also sending home board books bought
in Magnolia’s name to welcome new babies who are born into Bronx Community
Charter School families. We hope that
these efforts will help to keep Magnolia’s love of books alive in our community.
Entering a new year
without Magnolia is difficult again and we face the approach of the anniversary
of her death with dread and sadness.
January 27th will mark 2 years since her death at 22
months. It feels especially awful this
year to know that she has been gone longer than she was alive. We continue to feel her absence and the hole
that it has left behind. We miss her all
the time. We love her so much and make
many opportunities to talk about her and share stories and memories
together.
Thank you for sharing
our sadness and helping to keep Magnolia’s memory present.
(Please let us know if you do not want your pictures posted here.)
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