I don't know how many Lactnetters ever knew or corresponded with Bonnie
Bedford, of Vancouver, BC (Canada) or read her home page on breastfeeding,
but she was a wonderful, warm, funny,
in-your-face-about-attachment-parenting mom. Her web site is still up. She
was one of the original subscribers of parent-l, an attachment parenting
e-mail list that I was very active on in 1995. Many of the essays on my web
page began life as postings to parent-l. When Bonnie was diagnosed with
breast cancer last November, one of the other parent-l folks, Lara Nolan,
organized a quilt-making project among the other e-mail list members. A
bunch of us made quilt squares and sent them to Lara, and then people close
to her (on the west coast of US, and even some not so close) got together
and quilted them, put the back on, etc. It was finally finished and mailed
to Bonnie -- a complete surprise. Bonnie writes about the importance of her
"Medicine Quilt" on her home page (follow the links for breast cancer). She
leaves behind a husband, four breastfed, attachment-parented children, and a
lot of sad e-mail pals. Please take a minute to visit her home page, sign
the guest book, and also take a minute or two to squeeze your children an
extra time, and to appreciate all that you still have. Bonnie touched a lot
of lives, and taught a lot of people about the importance of children.
http://www.islandnet.com/~bedford/bonnie.html
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University
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