Dear friends and family,
It’s that time of year again. The Wave of Light has become a special tradition for our family to remember Louie and other little ones who are no longer with us. October 15 is Infant and Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day, observed through the International Wave of Light. We invite you to light a candle on October 15 (or send “light” thoughts or prayers) from 7–8 p.m. in your local time zone in honor of all the little ones who are gone too soon.
I’ve officially been back at work for almost a year, where the focus is constantly on optimizing things with AI and making things faster. But as I started to think about this annual Wave of Light note, I was left to wonder what rituals are too sacred to give a prompt. Spoiler alert: I started this from a blank page, blinking cursor, and decided to even type rather than dictate these words. (Perhaps I’ll send it through an LLM for feedback at the end).
Time spent together as a family remains the highlight of my days. It’s the opposite of efficient, asynchronous, and “productive”. A fun memory that stuck out from this summer was attending our first big concert (Ed Sheeran) together as a family. Side note: this was also an important event as it will also likely be our children’s security challenge question for the rest of their lives. It was a great experience, and Ellie and I came out of the concert with a new favorite song called “Camera”.
The chorus goes:
I don't need a camera to capture this moment
I'll remember how you look tonight for all my life
When everything is black and white, your color's exploding
There's somethin' in the way you shine
No, I don't need a camera when you're in my eyes
And in a flash, it's gone
But I'll keep holding on
To every little detail in the fabric of the night
Never letting go of it inside
That song was especially memorable as Ed Sheeran asked everyone in the stadium to use their phone flashes at the same time - not to use your phone to take a photo, but to experience the moment. It looked like a thousand twinkling stars in the night sky - it was a moment to be fully present. And I think I will remember it always.
Every October, I picture the Wave of Light traveling across the world. I think of our hearts connected by love and loss. We had one short day with our precious Louie, but his brief life reminds me how to hold on deeply to the most important things. I hope you share a deeply present moment with someone you love today.
