Angel moms are all around us remembering their children

krista@seymourherald.com Seymour, TN-Losing a family member is never an easy experience to endure. It seems as though society conditions us to accept that someday children will have to bury their parents and so we seem to be prepared for it. But, when the opposite occurs, and a parent must bury their child it is unprepared and heartbreaking. Such is the case with Seymour resident Debbie Rittencutter. Almost seven years ago Rittencutter lost her oldest son Josh to teen suicide. At the time, Rittencutter and her family were living in Ohio. After Josh’s death, Rittencutter wanted to start over somewhere else. The family ended up in the Seymour area. “We have always loved the beauty of the mountains, I would visit here and feel at peace.” After moving to Seymour, Rittencutter was hoping to find a support group from other mothers, who had also lost their children. “There were programs but they only met once a month. I was grieving and I needed more.” And with the need Rittencutter asked her husband for a computer. Through surfing the internet she was able to find a friend. “Judy” became one of Rittencutter’s closest friends. The town of them decided to start their own website called AngelMoms.com. AngelMoms is a constant stream of support for grieving mothers who have lost children for a variety of reasons. Now the site has 130 members and continues to grow. “We have women in our group that gave birth to still born babies during a time in our history when they really weren’t allowed to grieve,” says Rittencutter. “The baby was buried and any memories were to disappear. We have those women in our group because now they have an outlet for that grieving.” Eventually the members of the group decided that they would all like to meet each other. “Obviously we have gotten to know each other and the idea to meet seemed like a good one,” adds Rittencutter. This need to meet each other created the AngelMoms retreat. Taking place yearly the retreat is supposed to be in a different location every year. “The ladies, who came last year, absolutely fell in love with the Smoky Mountains. So, the ladies all voted to have the retreat here again this year.” Renting a cabin, the ladies fly or drive in from various parts of the United States, and head to the mountains for half a week. During the retreat, the ladies take advantage of tourist attractions as well as have some great bonding with each other. One of the main events is the balloon release. A balloon is launched for every child whose mom is a member of the organization. The women also collect rocks and place them at the base of a tree right outside their cabin. The paint a message and name on the rocks. “We also have an opportunity to share or videos and scrapbooks, mementos of all kinds -things that celebrate the memories of our children,” add Rittencutter. The ladies of AngleMoms arrived in town on Saturday, July 24th and will be staying until Wednesday the 17th. The Seymour Herald would like to welcome these special ladies to Seymour.