This is Manny.
If you found this page, we want you to know something before you read another word. You are not reading about a loss. You are being introduced to our son.
His name is Manuel Michael Rodriguez. We call him Manny. He was loved before he arrived, prayed for before we knew who he was, and hoped for in the quiet way that parents hope before they say it out loud.
When we found out he was coming, we were not together. News like that cannot travel over a phone. So it was written down, folded up, and saved for the moment it could be said in person. That is who Manny is. The kind of person whose arrival makes you reach for words before you even know his face.
He came into this world on August 7, 2008. He was small and he was beautiful and he was wrapped in soft light blue. He was here for only a short time. In that time, he was held and prayed over and surrounded by people who dropped everything just to be in the same room with him. Nobody had the words. Nobody needed them. They just came. That is what Manny did. He drew people toward him.
Near the very end, he opened his eyes. And then he was with Jesus. In the whole of his life he never knew a single thing that was not love. We have never stopped believing that is everything.
We built this place because his name deserves to keep moving in the world. And because somewhere right now, another parent is carrying a name the world has already moved on from. We want them to know we have not. That their child matters here. That they are not alone. That is what Manny would want. That is who he is.
"He came from love. He was surrounded by love. He was love. And now he has returned to the highest form of love that exists."
