Winston

There was a family who lost their son, who they loved so much. One day, a little dog came into their lives. He came quickly and a little timidly. But he soon was bounding around the house and curling up next to his people and sleeping in their beds. Every day he led the lady outside to walk in the park. Without him, she might have stayed inside all day, never seeing the sky and stars and the seasons change. He made her laugh and he loved her back to life. He opened the man's heart and that was a hard thing to do. The little dog stayed just a short while. Then he got sick and had to leave this life. He ran quickly to the boy and they now play together and the little dog curls up next to him to sleep. He told the boy that his family is ok and they'll come to be with him when its time. The family miss the boy and the little dog but there is a special comfort in knowing they are together.

I should write something...

It's July. It's been nearly one year. It's hard to believe. Things have been happening. I've been going to the monthly grief support group. It's not a club I ever wanted to join, but it's helpful in it's own way. I've learned how lucky we've been. So many of the ladies have so much baggage in association with their chilren's deaths. Litigation, grandchildren they can no longer see, guilt for a son's suicide...etc. We have only the loss of Alex and ourselves to worry about. That's enough for anyone.

Thom and I have been working with Garden City Monument to design Alex's stone. It will be lovely, when it's done. I'm hoping it will be mounted by his birthday.

On July 3rd I went to Hamilton to the Daly Mansion and saw the oak tree that was dedicated to Alex. How wonderful of them to do that for us.

In March I applied for the Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau. In June I found out that I'd been accepted. Now I have the task of putting together a one hour program of Sarah Woody's life. I'm very excited by this new development. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Alex's garden is coming along nicely. There's a baby twisted locust tree, a sumac, bamboo, poppies and peonies and other sundry plant matter. The ornamental grasses I planted last fall didn't come back so I'll be replacing them soon.

I've decided to get a tattoo. It'll be on my left inner forearam; Alex's signature and a small panda. I have every intention to do that this summer.

That might be all for now. It's hard to concentrate to write but I wanted to catch up a bit. Hopefully I'll feel like writing again soon. Time will tel.