A very dear friend has experienced a tremendous loss recently. He and his partner, pregnant for the first time, first child for both of them, lost the pregnancy in the ninth month. I feel grief, sorrow, love, tenderness, and so terribly clumsy. What could be more contradictory than death that precedes birth? Than spending the better part of a year in eager loving anticipation of the hopes and dreams that new birth offers, then to have those dreams turn to grief and mourning? My deepest heartfelt sympathies are with you, D&L. Love, Donna