Connecting

Our thoughts were with you Mike as we sat by your grave and shared a picnic lunch. We hugged, chatted about everyday things but always with the thought that you were close by. We laughed as we talked about some of the blogs and cried as Neil put into words the sorrow we were feeling. I remembered how brave you were as you faced an uncertain future.

Lucas brought his bicycle to the cemetery. He's just learned to ride a bike without training wheels and he's so proud of himself. Amid cheers and claps he successfully steered in and around the gravestones, his little legs going a mile a minute. It just seemed so right. He's growing up and learning new things. And there was Emily - happily munching on her lunch, peeking through the fence at the nearby cows, playing hide and seek. Dragonflies flew overhead. Three bright orange gerber daisies lay on the grave - placed there lovingly by Sarah, Lucas and Emily. A vase of beautiful purple peonies, fresh from the garden of Coral and Michael, sat closeby. The weather was unsettled - a bit of rain, dark clouds but then blue sky and sunshine. Lucas found a little bug - a rose canker beetle (whose name we learned from Coral) - and somehow it hitched a ride back to 24 Hill St.

In that peaceful setting we were connected in love, sadness and hope.

Carolyn