Day of Grace

Yesterday, we celebrated our daughters second birthday in heaven. We had a somber, quiet "Day of Grace" reflecting. It was as close to perfect as it could be, aside from having her here with us. Grace ordered up some beautiful weather for planting flowers at the cemetery, having a picnic lunch with her, visiting the zoo, wrapping up Gavin's soccer class and releasing a lantern at dusk in her honor. It was very peaceful and lovely to be together as a family.

Many thanks to our friends and family for all of the love and support - texts, FB messages, phone calls, gifts, cards (oh, the cards, you guys are all so awesome!).  When you lose a child, it often feels like you're the only one living the pain and remembering her constantly. Yesterday, we learned that we're not the only ones who remember - we have so many friends and family (near and far) who remember along with us and honor our little girl. It means more than you'll ever know.  

 

With time, people forget about her.  New people enter our lives who never knew her story.  Life moves on, the world keeps spinning, and the demands keep trudging forward.  But I find myself, at times, still stuck on May 24, 2011 when she was alive and with us.  I often wish I could go back to that day and push pause on the DVR and just stay in the moment a bit longer.  Or revisit it as often as I like.

Some very dear friends arranged for a massive number of birthday cards to be sent for Grace's birthday.  They then decorated Grace's tree at the cemetery with the cards, secretly.  When we pulled up to the cemetery to begin our day of Grace, from a distance it looked like decorations in her tree.  I knew instantly who had done it.  But as we walked closer (just Brad and I - we left Gavin in the car, windows down, sleeping, he fell asleep on the way there), it was clear these were cards.  And they were from all different friends and family.  It was just lovely to see and feel all of the support of those around us.  Her name is rarely said (except in our house, all of the time), so to see so many people remember her along with us took my breath away! 

Aside from the cemetery, we spent a portion of the afternoon at our local zoo.  We're members this summer, so it will be fun to go back.  Brad and Gavin go there often, but it's a treat for me to be able to join them.  I had the day off from work, so to the zoo we went.  Gavin loved "leading" me around and showing me all of his favorite exhibits and things to do.  From there, we headed to his last soccer practice/game/lesson with the Grandparents, a quick dinner and then back to the cemetery to release a lantern at dusk (well, a little earlier than dusk - we needed to get Gavin back home and to bed after such a long day.  He was a trooper, though, all day, which made me proud.)  Tonight we'll celebrate her life with a mass dedicated to her at our church.

Some photos of our day...

 We made a butterfly cake again this year (and butterfly cookies, not pictured).  Brad and I lit the "2" candle on it last night.

 Fresh flowers at Grace's Place.  Gavin loves helping.

 We're trying a butterfly bush this year at the cemetery, in addition to one at home in our Grace garden.  We'll see if it attracts some butterflies.

 Just our family, I like how you can see the back of Grace's stone in this photo - Amazing Grace!

 A couple of butterfly decorations from friends and a Minnie Mouse from Mom, Dad and Gavin.

 Said tree with at least 50 cards attached!

 Gavin took this photo while he was playing Peter Parker and it turned out nice, "I have to get some photos for the Daily Bugle" (you Spiderman fans will understand this - he's obsessed, thinks he is the "real Spiderman".)  Check out that beautiful blue sky, a few clouds sprinkled in, after a week of rain and storms!

 Gavin also took this one of Minnie which I thought turned out cute.

Grace, we love you to the moon and back - we hope you enjoyed your day in heaven dancing, picking flowers, hugging Grandpa, and smiling down on us!