The Gift of Ben

Reflections and writings throughout the years from author Lindsey Rogers-Seitz

The Moments That Take Your Breath Away

They overcome me, and at the most unexpected times. The triggers, so minor. Yesterday, at my daughter’s first fall soccer tournament, one of our players took a ball to the stomach, wind immediately knocked out of her. As she stood in the middle of the field, bent over, trying not to cry, both teams got […]

Is Empathy Still Alive?

“There’s a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit – the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes; to see the world through those who are different from us….As you go on in life, cultivating this quality of empathy will […]

Defining the New Conversation: Looking at the Real Numbers

Until this point, legislators, regulators, safety advocates and the general public have focused on the rate of child vehicular heatstroke fatalities each year. However, when parents are advised to place briefcases in the back of cars as reminders, or auto manufacturers add back-up cameras, lane departure warnings, forward collision warnings, and trunk latches in cars, […]

This I Know to Be True

A moment is as fleeting as the reflection of the heavens cast off of the icy rivers of winter. No two will ever be the same, no ripple will bend a moment at that exact angle again. Grasp it, hold it tight to your chest, never let it go. July 7th, cradled on my husband’s […]

Savannah Oaks

The Oak Tree – Johnny Ray Ryder Jr. A mighty wind blew night and day. It stole the Oak Tree’s leaves away. Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark until the Oak was tired and stark. But still the Oak Tree held its ground while other trees fell all around. The weary […]

In Search of A Sunset

“For a second I was almost jealous of the clouds. Why was he looking to them for an escape when I was right here beside him?” – Kamile Shamsie, Kartography Ben, there was not one cloud in the sky yesterday that could keep your rays from touching our skin. We felt you all day. As […]

A Mother’s Journey

If our souls are pure energy, then, Benjamin, you are my sun. Kissing the hilltops of my face each morning, you rise. After the darkest nights, where I miss you so profoundly, I awaken to feel the promise of your touch, again, and again. Magnetically pulling to your ascent and, thereby, allowing me to rise […]

Garden of the Gods

“The brain itself does not produce consciousness. That it is, instead, a kind of reducing valve or filter, shifting the larger, nonphysical consciousness that we possess in the non physical worlds down into a more limited capacity for the duration of our mortal lives.” Eben Alexander, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife […]

Connecticut Makes a Move to Enhance Public Awareness

First, I want to acknowledge the steps that our state officials and national Congressmen are taking to enhance NHTSA’s public awareness campaign locally, due to the multiple incidents that have occurred in Connecticut this summer. On July 11th, Senators Blumenthal and Murphy spoke out in a letter to NHTSA asking for the agency to focus more […]

On Longing, Love and Lessons

Love and Longing….it takes your breath away….in the quiet, the void left in Ben’s absence is palpable….I’ve internally debated whether to write about the grief of tragically losing a child. Do I just stick to public awareness and facts? History? Solutions? The generic, clean parts – stay away from the messy, complicated reality? Yesterday, though, […]