Meghan's Hope

12/20/2025

How fast do tip-overs happen? Furniture tip-overs can happen even when you are watching your kids. You can be in the same room and be powerless to stop it from happening.

I've been told many times that if I watched my kids, Meghan would be alive today. If you've read her story, you know our entire family was asleep when Meghan's dresser fell on her. We woke in the morning to find her under the dresser.

You sleep. You use the bathroom. You don't always watch your kids and you are not always within arms reach. Pretending it won't happen to you doesn't prevent a tragedy from happening.

This video from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows how fast tip-overs happen using actual footage of incidents caught on mobile phone or nanny cam video, some with the parent literally right there. These children were fortunate, as none were seriously injured, but every incident where a child was lucky, could just as easily ended in tragedy.

Watching your kids won't protect them. Only properly anchoring furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves to the wall will.

today.

Many parents believe they don't need to anchor their furniture to the wall because they always watch their kids. The truth is that watching is not enough - a...

12/18/2025

As I do every year, I ask that you take a few minutes to read this blog post and be with me, just for today.

It has motivated so many of you to protect your kids from furniture tip-overs, but a child is still rushed to the ER every 43 minutes because of a tip-over. We need to keep sharing the message about the importance of anchoring furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves to the wall!

So please, share this with friends and family, consider gifting furniture anchors, and help install them as a gift.

today!

For once, I'm at a loss for words. Maybe not so much at a loss, but there are so many things I want to say that I just don't know where or ...

12/18/2025

Today is day 12 of the 12 days of Meggie. It's her Angelversary. The day I woke to a nightmare that will never end. The day she was killed by her dresser.

This is the photo that has made her one of the icons of furniture tip-over prevention. She is the beautiful face of and the reason for Meghan's Hope.

This photo has been used in print media around the world, on local and national television, for the CPSC's Anchor It campaign and PSA's, in every educational seminar or conference I've presented at, and has been seen around the world. She has become the face of tip-over awareness.

It captures her beauty, a wisdom beyond her years, a hint of mischief in her eyes, and her spirit so beautifully. It's as if she is compelling you to look at her and "listen to Meggie."

So, please, listen to Meggie! Anchor your furniture and TVs today so your family never has to know the pain ours lives with every single day. today.

12/17/2025

21 years ago, I had no idea tonight would be the last time I'd hear her giggle, hear her say "I love you", snuggle with her in my lap, read her a bedtime story, and the last time I'd ever kiss her goodnight. 💔

I had no idea how my life, my world, my entire existence, and that of our family, and especially her dear brothers, would change by morning. That our world would come crashing down, and our hearts would be shattered, never to be the same again.

Every December 17th, I vividly remember Meggie's last day alive. What I remember most is her watching Frosty the Snowman that evening. Over, and over, and over... Devastated when he melted and thrilled at how he came back to life. She would sing and dance and ask to watch it again and again. The song still triggers me.
Kiss your kids goodnight, tell them you love them, savor every moment, and don't take one second for granted. Tomorrow is not promised for any of us.

And please, anchor your furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves as well as TVs in your home, and ensure that they are secured everywhere your children or grandchildren spend time. Every 45 minutes, someone is rushed to the ER because of a tip-over. About every 2.5 weeks, a child still dies, just like Meggie did, when furniture falls on them. Please, today

12/16/2025

It's day 10 of the 12 days of Meggie. This is a particularly rough one for me. It is the anniversary of our first, and last, mommy and Meggie day.

We talked about doing it every week because we had so much fun! We went to get her hair cut for the very first time (the bangs were finally, for the first time in 3 years, even!) and did a little shopping. We talked about enrolling her in a dance class after the holidays, and I savored girl time with her.

Later that day she ran up to her father and me, separately, to say "I love you Mommy!" " I love you Daddy!", which was oddly spontaneous, but adorable. Then she wanted to go outside and swing so she could "fly in the sky". She was excited to put on her pink coat and was getting impatient because it took her brothers way too long to get ready to go outside, and she wanted to "fly"!

Her eyes were always truly windows to her wise, old, soul. Unbeknownst to us at the time, it would be her last time playing outside on her beloved swings, and these would be among the last photos we'd ever take of her.

12/15/2025

It's day 9 of the 12 days of Meggie. These photos capture the many moods and faces of Meggie, and some of them still make me laugh. You never had to wonder what she felt or wanted; she made sure you knew! 🤣

Level up your grief I.Q.:
The next 3 days bring the heavy cloak of anticipatory grief as her "angelversary" rapidly approaches, followed by the week leading up to Christmas, and I still struggle with having to function, work, and interact with other humans, more than 20 years later.

I often experience a roller coaster of emotions and feel exhausted and irritable at times, despite appearing to act "normal". Sure, work and the demands of everyday life are a distraction, and I can and do have fun. With every passing year, I find more joy in the season again, but grief comes in waves, and it's all emotionally exhausting, even if that's not obvious to others. It's all part of the grief journey. 💗

12/14/2025

Today is day 8 of the 12 days of Meggie. Those eyes (and the mischievous twinkle)! That smile! The disheveled hair! This photo captures her energy and personality so well. She was such a ray of sunshine... Can you imagine if the sun stopped shining, the darkness that would envelop you? That's the grief of losing a child. I don't want you to know that darkness.

That's why I fought so hard for a mandatory safety and stability law for dressers (The STURDY Act) and why I continue to educate and advocate about the importance of anchoring all furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves to the wall. So please, put anchoring your furniture and TVs on your holiday to-do list. Gift anchors to those who don't have them (and help them install them!), and please, today for Meggie and help me

12/13/2025

It's day 7 of the 12 days of Meggie. Today, a story about blankies and grief. See the light yellow blanket under the pink one? She received that as a gift when she was born. Her twin has a blue one. It has her initial on it, "M". She loved it. She also loved the pink flower one, because, well, it was pink. 🙂

Here's a little tidbit about a parent's grief: My biggest regret is that I buried her with both of those blankies, because she loved them and I wanted her to be "warm" and have things she loved with her.

As soon as we left the funeral home and were on our way to the church for her funeral, I was instantly filled with regret. I suddenly wanted to keep those blankies, especially the yellow one, but it was too late. Why did I want it so badly? Because she loved it. Because I loved that she loved it. Because it smelled like her. Because I wanted to sleep with it because I could no longer cuddle her. Every time I see this picture, I see her joyful smile, and I wish I still had those blankies. 💔

12/12/2025

It's day 6 of the 12 days of Meggie! Today, we celebrate the dancing princess she was! She loved listening to and making music (quiet was not in her vocabulary!) but she really loved to dance! Wonder where she got that from? 💃

Many of these photos were taken at her auntie T's wedding. She LOVED dancing with everyone there! She probably told everyone she had on her "pretty shoes", too, she was so excited to wear them! 💗

I had planned to enroll her in dance classes after Christmas in 2004, when she was 3, but she never got the chance, because her dresser fell on her and killed her a week before Christmas.

12/11/2025

It's day 5 of the 12 days of Meggie. Today, a celebration of the love she and her big brother had for each other. He adored her and she adored her big brother!

He claimed "the girl baby" at the moment he learned we were having two babies, and it was love at first sight. I used to say he'd take good care of her in true big brother fashion, and all her potential boyfriends would have to get big brother's approval! (surely, she'd have wanted to date his friends, LOL).

My heart hurts for my boys, for not having the opportunity to grow up with their sister, and for their broken hearts. They were far too young to experience such loss, but it's helped to make them deeply compassionate young men, and they are blessed with an emotional I.Q. and empathy far beyond their years.

Sibling grief is often the forgotten grief, but they miss her terribly, and grieve, too. 💗

12/10/2025

Today is day 4 of the 12 days of Meggie. I give you a girl and her cats! She loved all animals, but especially kitties. She used to approach our persnickety orange tabby Duncan by saying, "Do nice Duncan". Every stuffed cat she owned, she named Duncan because she loved him so. She was rarely seen without a stuffed cat in her hand or nearby.

When she died, we asked that in lieu of flowers, people donate to the because she loved kitties so much and would love to help them. They received so many donations they dubbed her the kitty Angel and were able to renovate their kitty adoption room. The watercolor pictured below still hangs there today.

She had received the beige kitty sweatshirt pictured here for her 3rd birthday and loved it so much she wears it to this day, as she was buried wearing it. Her favorite "Duncan" is also still with her. The boys each took one of the other stuffed Duncans to care for, and I have the other favorite. Occasionally, I still sleep with it, especially this time of year.

If you have a kitty that has crossed the Rainbow Bridge, chances are Meggie is taking care of it right now, LOL!