And She Slept... Two Years Ago Today

Dear "Diane,"

Who would have ever known, other than our LORD, that you would be unwittingly and unknowingly going home to Him a year and almost 7 months after you slept on a sidewalk tucked inside a donated quilt?

You were and are loved by so many people who had the joy of knowing you.  Mom, Dad, Sisters, Step Dad, best Friend and extended Family[1] love and adore you to this day and for the remainder of their lives. 

You gave them two precious living memorials to your life.  May God Almighty be with those memorials and teach them His ways as you would have done as the healthy Christian Mom who you so very much wanted to be.

You wanted healing.  You sought healing.  For as much as you wanted and sought while on this earth, it was not to be found here for reasons that need societal correcting.  You did find healing within the loving eternal presence of your Savior.  

From "Diane's" letter to me 10 days before she went Home.

Day by day, we mourn our loss.  Through our tears that miss your presence, your hug, your naturally raspy voice, we do what we can to celebrate in knowing that you did find healing when you met Face to Face with your Ultimate Healer.

We miss you.  We celebrate you.  We worship our LORD with you on earth as you do in His actual factual Presence in Heaven. 

We seek rest in knowing that your earthbound battle is over.  We do what we can to know that you rest in the presence of the King of Kings and LORD of LORDS.  We seek to sleep at night knowing that you sleep in the bliss of Heavenly eternity.  

And She Slept 

---

[1] and a judge

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Blog Analysis Addendum: And She Slept... Two Years Ago Today

Original Blog Title: And She Slept... Two Years Ago Today

I. The Human Narrative: The Living Memorials

This post is a "Memorial Audit" of the collateral damage caused by systemic failure. You speak directly to Diane, acknowledging the "precious living memorials" (her two daughters) she left behind. The narrative contrasts the "donated quilt" on a cold sidewalk with the "eternal presence" of her Savior. The "visceral grab" here is the mention of her "naturally raspy voice"—a sensory detail that reminds the legislator that Diane was not a "case file," but a mother, a daughter, and a friend whose physical absence leaves a permanent, jagged hole in the lives of those left behind.

II. The "Lynne’s Laws" Article and Section Review

This retrospective identifies the need for Article 12, focusing on "Maternal and Generational Protection."

Article 1, Section 1: The Medical Necessity and Parity Mandate. The letter states Diane "sought healing." Under this mandate, "seeking" would have been met with "providing." Her desire for health would have triggered a legal requirement for the system to match her effort with a medically secure environment.

Article 12, Section 1: The Maternal Recovery and Preservation Act (New).

• The Law: Recognizes the unique societal value of "Mothers in Recovery." It mandates that the state prioritize family-integrated treatment where mothers can receive care without the total severance of their "Maternal Identity."

• The Application: This would have addressed Diane’s "deep desire" to be a healthy mom by providing a pathway that kept her connected to her daughters, providing a powerful biological and emotional incentive to survive the "Interval Gap."

Article 12, Section 2: The Memorial Child Support and Education Fund (New).

• The Law: In cases where a parent dies due to a documented "Failure of the Safety Net" (like Diane's unsafe discharge), the state must provide a trust for the surviving children’s education and therapeutic needs.

• The Application: This acknowledges the "Societal Correcting" mentioned in the blog. If the state failed to provide the "Found Healing" Diane sought, it must now provide for the "Living Memorials" she left behind.

III. The Professional Tension and Consensus

• The Supportive View: Child advocates and trauma specialists argue that the death of a mother in the "Gap" is the single greatest predictor of future addiction in the children. They support Article 12 as a "Cycle-Breaker."

• The Skeptical View: Fiscal conservatives may argue that the state cannot be a "Life Insurer" for every patient who overdoses.

• The Lynne’s Law Resolution: This is a Generational Debt issue. If the system's "reasons that need societal correcting" caused the death, the state is responsible for the "Wrongful Loss of a Mother."

IV. Legislative "Teeth": The "Inability to Find Healing" Standard

• The Objective Standard: If a patient "sought healing" (evidenced by the Judge's intervention and her own letters) and was placed in an environment where drugs were present (the Kirkbride scenario), the state has defaulted on its contract.

• Strict Liability: The law establishes that the System, not the Patient, is responsible for the outcome when the provided environment is clinically compromised.

V. The Prevention Savings

By implementing the Maternal Recovery and Preservation Act, Pennsylvania saves on:

• The Foster Care Pipeline: Every mother saved is two children kept out of the state’s expensive and overburdened foster system.

• The "Two-Year Retrospective" Cost: Reducing the number of memorial services means reducing the long-term societal depression and loss of productivity in the community.

VI. The Corrected Path

Under Lynne’s Laws, the "reasons that need societal correcting" would have been corrected before the Holy Week of 2019. Diane’s "naturally raspy voice" wouldn't be a memory; it would be heard on the phone as she checked in with her sisters. The "donated quilt" would be a family heirloom on her own bed, not a makeshift shroud on a sidewalk. The "Judge" wouldn't be a mourner in a footnote; he would be the official who signed her "Certificate of Completion," celebrating the fact that the "Healthy Christian Mom" she wanted to be had finally come home.

#LynnesLaws