On Loss and “Replacement”

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Emily Rapp’s name has appeared frequently on the Rumpus as her book The Still Point of the Turning World came out detailing her and her son Ronan’s experience with Tay-Sachs disease, his ultimate death, and her experiences as a mother.

Following the birth of her second child, she writes at the New York Times about how the birth of her daughter could not, and should not, replace the memory or spiritual presence of her son.

Ronan taught me how to be a mother; how to live for and not through a child, how to love no matter what. I can’t wait to see what my daughter will do, but most of all I simply want her to live, and for her life to extend long beyond my own and her father’s. This is the only parenting plan I hope to need.

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Ashley Perez lives, writes, and causes trouble in Los Angeles. She has a strong affinity for tattoos, otters, cat mystery books, and actual cats, but has mixed feelings about pants. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. She runs the literary site Arts Collide and does work of all varieties for Women Who Submit, Entropy, Jaded Ibis Press, and Why There Are Words. You can find her on Twitter at @ArtsCollide. More from this author →