Eulogy for a Shooting Star

Last year we suffered, as a family, the devastating loss of Eddy Maurice Smith III, my first-born grandson and my little Trip, after only 13 weeks of an amazing shooting star life.

SIDS is every parent's, and grandparent's, worst nightmare, and strikes without warning - creating a permanent pain in everyone's life.

When little Trip passed, Heather and Eddy, asked me to perform his memorial service. Never in my life have I felt so honored, and so humbled as I was that day. I wrote his eulogy as I worked a graveyard shift at the gas station, on a series of post-it notes. I don't really remember writing it, so much as letting it be written through me .... I also created a set of 3 video memorials that I used during the service.

To honor his memory, I'm posting here a permanent link to a copy of the eulogy that I delivered, along with the embedded video slideshows.

If you'd like to share this painful, but inspiring message, please click the picture below:

Eulogy delivered on 6/29/11

Many of you have seen this, as I posted it on Facebook at the time, but this seems to be a more permanent way to immortalize this tribute to my shooting-star angel baby.

While this terrible tragedy has changed us all, I hope that we can all remember the awesome way that Trip touched our lives, and thank God for allowing us to spend time with an angel, even though we wish it had been much, much longer ...

Grandpa loves you Trip, Forever - and as always, this comes straight ...

From Grandpa's Heart ...