The Journey to the Truth – a Column by Meagan Cheney

Recently, a back-to-school photo of my late daughter, Austen, appeared in my Facebook memories. It was from our homeschool years, and she chose a pajama day to kick off first grade. Clad in pink and white striped pajamas with large pink bows in her pigtails, she smiled at the camera…

There’s something special about a good pair of pajamas. A nice, matching set somehow makes me feel simultaneously cozy and put together. They also mean you don’t look too crazy during middle-of-the-night trips to the emergency room (ER), and if they’re of good quality, they can last forever. When my…

A few months after my daughter Austen passed away due to complications of Dravet syndrome, we acquired a new dog. My husband, Dakota, and I had begun talking about how both of our families have traditions of naming animals after loved ones who have passed on. His aunt and…

Today marks two years since my daughter Austen passed away from complications of Dravet syndrome. Two years since I last heard her voice or held her hand. Two years since I broke up a fight between her and her siblings, or had to go into their room to tell…

Tomorrow would be Austen’s 11th birthday. When I found out I was pregnant with Austen, I wasn’t sure if I was going to have another home birth or not. I loved my home birth experience with Atlas in the fall of 2013, but we were stationed in Hawaii at the…

Eleven years ago, I brought new life into the world in one of my favorite months of the year, when things begin to warm and blossom. May 19, 2015, was one of the three best days of my life — the day my daughter Austen was born. The two other…

My entire world revolves around my children. As a special needs mom, I often lost my own identity in the fight to not only give my late daughter, Austen, a better life, but to keep her alive. But when Austen was about 2, I found myself at a point where…

I tend to second-guess myself. I’ve done it my entire life. But it got worse when I became a mom, and worse again when I became a mom to a special needs child. When your entire world is centered around keeping a child alive, it’s hard not to fixate on…

I grew up in a family that didn’t get rid of our old things. Items weren’t thrown away or sold at garage sales. Things that could be used were kept in rotation, and things that weren’t were packed away and stored. As a child, I remember hours spent looking at…

If you had asked childhood Meagan what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have said a mom. Four-year-old Meagan would have said a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, but after that, being a mom was my biggest dream. I didn’t anticipate making that goal a reality…