Dear Friends,
            Before April 19, 2003, I was a normal, suburban “mom chauffer”with a baseball-loving husband, three active kids in 21 weekly activities, and a dog that thankfully loved car rides. On a sunny, spring afternoon, my middle child, my son Steven, was struck and killed by a train down the street from our home.

            After the loss of a child, life has no “normal.” With the swift hand of fate, we were suddenly labeled “bereaved parents,” and everything we lived and breathed became entrenched in the death of our child. Life didn’t feel like it was worth living; it felt empty, and so did we. Our spiritual selves, our social beings lacked any similarity to what they were before April, 2003. Our entire world needed to be redefined because we didn’t want death to “win” - we wanted life back.

            Our family needed to find ways to keep Steven with us; to seek out his continued symbolic connection and spiritual presence in our family. So, we sought out a path that differed from the traditional route after death of a loved one. We call it “moving forward but hanging on.” I invite you to read my book, When You Just Can’t Say Good-bye, Don’t in the hopes that you will find healthy ways to hang on to your loved one, too.

I invite you to take a moment and sign our guestbook.  I thank you for visiting, and wish you...

Rainbows and blessings, 
Maria Malin

    “This is a very important book.  It’s not often that someone has the courage to open their soul, nor the talent to guide us into the netherworld of the life experience that is unspeakable, unthinkable—the loss of a child.  Maria Malin has done just that in a gentle mission to be of service to someone else who might share a similar tragedy.  In so doing, she has given us a remarkable new perspective on grief.

     After a loss of someone dear, we hear our friends say, ‘Snap out of it!’ ‘Just let go and go on with life!’  Maria Malin counters by asking, ‘Why?’  Her answer to that question fills this book with a powerfully written account of a true story, her own.  I believe it will change your attitude toward loss.

     A beautiful young family who had it all, suddenly is visited by death.  It could have shattered every belief, every achievement, the same shadow that has haunted 9/11 families.  But Maria Malin gives us hope by telling us that we don’t have to let go."

Bill Kurtis  
Award-winning news anchor, journalist,
author, documentary host, and producer