Other Madonna Badger support posts

These are other posts I've written for the support page. I just don't want to forget my thoughts and hope and pain. Time has a way of making us forget things: it's a blessing and a curse. I just want to be able to look back and remember how deeply I felt for someone I don't know.

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I ache for you and those who love you. Its unfathomable and unfair. I also am one of the many strangers who have not stopped thinking of you all week. I just sit here and cry as a mother, as a daughter, as a person. I pray you find comfort and peace someday. You have suffered. And you will suffer more. But one day hopefully many years from now, your suffering will end. On that day you will be rewarded for all of your pain. I'm not crazy religious, I just have to believe that. I have to believe God needed 5 amazing angels in heaven and 3 very special little ambassadors were chosen to be accompanied by two wonderful, loving grandparents. By all accounts you are an incredibly strong woman. Maybe God knew you could ultimately handle this tragedy whereas most could not. Maybe He knew you could go on until the day you are rewarded so immeasurably in heaven. The day your pain began they entered what I have to believe is a place beautiful beyond comprehension and together they will wait for you. Heaven's gain is always our loss. I have seen the pictures of your family and am grateful that now I know what 5 angels look like. They were too good and pure and perfect for the pain of this earth and will forever be good and pure and perfect now. From a heart-broken mother and daughter in Western New York.

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Jennifer Bierl MorganSupport Madonna Badger & Family
I posted my thoughts for Madonna last night - it's easy as a mother to get lost in my sadness for another mother. But I neglected to express my grief for Matthew as well. I don't know you and I did not know your beautiful little girls. But what I do know is that they brightened the life of everyone who knew them (it's just what children do) that they were loved and they loved back and because of that alone they made this world a better place. I am grateful for loving parents who raise wonderful children and share them with our world if only for a short time :*(
Hang onto your love; I believe it's the one thing that not even death can take from you. We fall in love with our children and that most powerful love is with them wherever they are, even if they are in Gods arms. I am just so incredibly sad for everyone who has loved and lost in this tragedy.

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I'd give anything to find the magical "rewind" button and go back in time for you. I'd even settle for "fast forward" to take you to a time when the fierce pain might feel like just a dull ache; a time when the memories may bring a smile as opposed to such sadness. Unfortunately I feel like you must feel as though your lives are on "pause" - stranded in this seemingly unending nightmare.   I say what has been said: they are in a better place, God works in mysterious ways, they are always with you in your heart, and so on. But I also know these sentiments must be of little comfort to you now, I'd be thinking the better place for them is with me, what could God possibly have planned that involved this, I know they are in my heart, but I want them in my arms. These are words we say when there are no words to say, words we know are not truly comforting, but that we hope show our sadness for those suffering. Words we hope ring true...someday. They are just words, but when all that we can do is offer you words, we hope that above all they convey pure love and compassion and support. We are strangers and friends offering words to let you know there is an army of people who will carry you until you can crawl on your own, crawl beside you until you can stand. Once standing, hold your hand forever. 

The prayers are different though. "I'm praying for you" may not mean much at a time like this, but this declaration is less for comfort and more for hope. These words we hope will reach God's ears and He will open a window for you, He will send help and speed you to a time when you are comforted. I pray He will show you a way. I am a stranger. We likely will never meet. I am one of the many strangers helping to "carry" you through prayer - simply because it's all I can do...would that I could do more. When you are "crawling" I will be one of the many strangers cheering you on. I know you have a long dark road ahead that you must travel before you see the light again, but there will be light again. I truly believe that.

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As one of the many "strangers" who so fervently aches for these families and their friends, someone who has thought unceasingly of them, I am grateful to have stumbled upon this page. I don't know if Matthew or Madonna will ever read the sentiments on here but I hope even acquaintances and friends who are hurting find some comfort in the worry and concern of strangers, in the knowledge that so many feel so deeply for the Badger's and Johnson's. I hope the love on here is somehow carried back to them. To read the posts of so many unconnected people from across the globe echoing pain and anguish, offering hope and prayer - if nothing else, it's a reminder of the human capacity to love and feel for others in need. It's a reminder that despite all the bad, there is still good in this world.

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I guess now the true struggle begins. The shock and disbelief wear away and the agony takes root. I have posted a few times but was bothered by one thing. A few people have referenced the blogs and the asinine people posting their judgmental and heartless comments on them (I have purposely not read these; they are too debased to mingle with the love that's called to mind when I think of your beautiful girls and selfless parents). While a page like this one is a shining example of the good social media can do, there are many other instances where we see technology give the ignorant and apathetic a voice when they are better left mute. Let no words of hurt in. I hope those surrounding you are able to protect you from the misguided souls who seek to wound you with their comments. There is no regret. No "should have, could have or would have's." There is a path for our lives laid out long before we actually walk it. And while we make the decisions that lead us one way or another, they eventually bring us where destiny had already arranged for us to be. There is not a person alive who has the right to judge you or anyone else. We all have done things we wish we had done differently. It is very easy and cowardly to scoff and pass judgement on another's life and choices; it's a whole different matter to walk a mile in their shoes. I guarantee not many would have the strength to walk in yours. We all have to find a way to bring meaning and light to the hand fate deals us. You have - through unimaginable grief - begun to do that in the beautiful words you spoke that allowed the world to know who Lily, Sarah and Grace were, in the other 364 foundation that has been set up in their names to champion compassion every day of the year, and in your request to keep your "girl tribe" alive by spreading the love they left behind through acts of service and kindness. Shame on anyone who tries to bring you down as you work to rise above this. I will love and serve always with your whole family in my heart.