Mommy, Where Are You?: A child's guide to understanding the death of a mother and the promise to still feel loved by those we have lost. - Hardcover

by Kristine Hirschi (Author), Allie Turek (Illustrator), Hazel Staples (Artist)

In this sweet, rhyming, children's book, we will explore where our loved ones go after they pass on from this life. We'll also learn about how we can feel them near us through everyday beauty and how they still love us so much. Death and Heaven are both hard concepts for a child to understand.

Our hope in writing this book is to bring understanding and comfort to a grieving child or loved one.

Mommy, Where Are You? is specifically written for a child who has lost their mother.

To my dear readers

I want to share a portion of my heart with you and tell you how this book (and the entire Where Are You?) collection came to be. You see, in December of 2022 our third daughter, Caitlyn, was due to deliver her second son. Because of severe complications she passed away just 9 days after delivering her perfect baby boy. She left behind her 16-month old son and her 9-day old baby boy along with her husband and countless family and friends who still grieve her loss to this very day. Her husband has married an angel woman who is diligently determined to make sure all of their children know and love Mommy Caitlyn. She is a blessing to us all.

When Caitlyn's oldest son was 3, he came, with his family to visit Papa and Grammy Shirshi. Upon entering the house, he saw a picture of "Mommy Caitlyn". He began jumping up and down while pointing at the picture. Then, with his big, contagious smile, he turned to me and said, "Grammy! It's Mommy Caitlyn!!"

"Yes, sweetheart, it's a picture of Mommy Cait", I replied, with a lump in my throat and tear filled eyes.

He immediately turned to his daddy and yelled with excitement, "Daddy, Maybe she's here!"

He then began running through my house, room to room, yelling "Mommy, Where Are You!?"

With broken hearts we sobbed as we tried to find the words to tell him that mommy's spirit was here but that he couldn't see her. We struggled to make sense of telling a young child "where" Heaven was, how he could feel her spirit in the beauty around him and even feel her presence.

This moment in time weighed heavily on my heart until in the early hours of a crisp November morning when I was awoken from a deep sleep with the words to this poem pounding my mind. I rose immediately and began writing. When I was finished, the Mommy, Where Are You? poem was born and this book came to be. In the days that followed, I could not help but feel like it needed to be shared with others who maybe going through a similar situation in their lives.

If you are one of these people, I want to offer my deepest condolences to you, your family and your loved ones. My heart knows yours and I mourn with you in your time of great loss. May Heaven smile down upon you and bring comfort and peace to your soul.

Kristine Hirschi