bobfair@sdcrdcf.UUCP (09/07/84)
On September 5, 1984 my precious grandson Michael Robert Fairbairn, age 5 months, died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as Crib Death. It is one of those things that you assume will never happen in your family, but in our case it did. Right now, as I am trying to control my emotions and deal with the intense pain that each member of our family is feeling, one thought keeps coming to me - our children are a priceless treasure that we are entrusted with for an unknown length of time. We must first of all get straight in our own minds the moral, ethical, and spiritual values that are the really important things in life, and then we must do our very best to pass these things on to our children. And we should try to remember that the actions of our daily lives speak much more clearly than any words we might say. In our case, a strong Christian faith has given us the foundation and framework we have needed in raising our four children and helping with our grandchildren. Whatever your religious convictions are, there is one principle that always applies - love your children, I mean really love them. If parents' actions are motivated by pure unselfish love, they won't go far wrong and the mistakes will be minimized. And now to you, little Mikey - thank you for bringing such joy into our lives for these few brief months. We love you.