When Samantha first came on this podcast in Episode 282, she was only a few months out from losing Raiden.

She was raw and fresh in her grief — and yet even then, just four months into her loss, she reached out to ask me about Andy. She stepped outside her own pain to offer comfort to someone further down the road. I knew then that she was someone special.

Fourteen months later, she is back. And the question that quietly runs through everything she shares is one that every grieving parent eventually faces:

How do I keep being my child's mama when my child is gone?

For Samantha, the answer has taken the shape of bubbles.

Raiden loved bubbles the way only a little boy can — rain or shine, indoors or out, in the bathtub, in the yard, anywhere and everywhere. That love became the name and the heart of the Raiden Bubble Project, a space Samantha built out of the sudden quiet of life after losing her only child. What started as something to focus on grew into water safety advocacy, autism awareness, and a community where other lost moms feel safe enough to reach out. Her own therapist tells her she has learned things from following along. Mothers she has never met write to thank her. Lost mamas find their way to her, and she holds space for them.

She also created the Little Love Lost Mamas, a small close circle of moms who have become like family. And she has been working to bring a memorial arch to her community, a place where anyone can come, padlock the name of someone they love, and know they are not alone.

Every single thing she has built is her still parenting Raiden.

We also talk about the new baby boy arriving soon, Ryatt. Samantha is clear about something that I think many people need to hear: Ryatt is not a replacement for Raiden. He is someone she gets to share Raiden with.

That is the kind of love that doesn't end when a life does.

It just finds new ways to live on — in bubbles, in community, and in the quiet, faithful work of a mama who never stopped.