Finding her peace

Amy (Donner) Erickson

Tracy native hopes book helps others who have suffered personal loss heal as she has

By Per Peterson

Forty-eight minutes.

That’s how much time Amy (Donner) Erickson’s son, Gabriel was given on Earth. Amy literally held her son in her arms his entire life.

Little did she know at that moment, that that experience which lasted mere minutes would serve as the inspiration for a writing project that would bring her heart warmth and her life peace.

“Three months after his death, I woke up one night around 2 a.m. and started writing … I had to tell his story,” Amy said in a recent interview. “It was a way to give my child a legacy past his grave, to honor the short life that he had, and it was also a way to work through my own grief and pain.”

Gabriel was born on August 28, 2011. He was Amy’s second son — her first-born, Julian, is now 11. Although his life was so very brief, Amy felt moved to put her feelings, and emotions on paper.

See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.