Trevor was the first person I spoke to about Grace this morning. He called me to celebrate her birthday and tell me he was thinking about me.

Laura was here and asked me if she might read a Jewish prayer. I was touched, and grateful.

Below is the prayer:

“May God remember my daughter, Grace, who has gone to eternal rest.

Her life was but the briefest flicker of a flame, extinguished before it had time to shed its light on the world but not before sharing its warmth with me.

Through the months of her gestation, I prepared to nurture and to love her. For the time that she lived, I gave to her everything a parent could have given and received everything I could have expected.

May the memory of the joy she brought to me in the short time that we were together strengthen me, and may God count that joy as the weight of a life filled with such blessing, binding through that love and joy Nina and Trevor in the bonds of eternal life.

For the gift of her life without transgression, I pledge to do acts of righteousness and tzedakah [charity] that she may merit eternal life and that I may find comfort in this world.”

With this in mind, I’m going to rename my charitable foundation “The Grace Projects”.

Today had been tough. But I’m still here. I’m not running away. I’m being mindful.