Three summers ago, we built a new room onto our house; Aaron was instrumental in the success of the project. He dug the basement; he located a masonry crew to do the foundation; he set the slope of the basement floor for proper drainage; he did the same in our backyard, excavating to provide the correct "fall" so rainwater would drain away properly. In the guestbook on his obituary (UPDATE: On obituary page, type MEYERHOFF in the search box), there are other similar memories of Aaron. He worked hard to make sure things were done right, and that can be a rare thing nowadays. Our area will truly miss him.***
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After that summer day three years ago when Aaron and my husband dug tile into the backyard, there remained one small section of black plastic tile lying out by itself.....probably Aaron cut if off as they were fitting tile sections together in the ground. Later, the little piece of tile ended up in the tall grass next to the lawn, and would subsequently show up in various spots in the flower garden from cats rolling it around. Probably a hundred times I thought about picking the tile piece up and throwing it in the trash, but just never got around to doing it.
Today-----the day of Aaron's funeral-----I placed the piece of tile in a visible spot in the flower garden, next to a Tonka bulldozer, a miniature of the real one Aaron would use for excavating. You can see it there in the photo. With his bulldozer, backhoe, endloader, and crane, Aaron would make short work of moving big boulders and piles of dirt out in the fields. Hence, the rocks next to the toy bulldozer. This little memorial in the flower garden will always remind us of Aaron.
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One of the songs to be played at Aaron's funeral is "Big Boy Toys" by Aaron Tippin and Buddy Brock.
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5 comments:
Awwwh! What a sweet, caring and compassionate thing to do. While don't often forget folks who make a difference in our lives, it doesn't hurt to have a visual reminder from time to time.
correction: While we don't often forget....
That's a thoughtful idea, Jeannelle.
Jeannelle....wonderful tribute...sweet and appropriate. After my mom's funeral I have now talked to family members whose faith seems to NOT allow them to remember...to try and forget as it were...the worldly things about mom...isn't that sad? For like your friend....this is what we remember, what gift we were given to remember them by...how they lived with us and gave to us...so your memorial is very appropriate. Sweet, simple and precious.
Pat, Ruth, Trish,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments.
My father-in-law passed on last fall....he lived alone, so someone needed to go to his house and straighten things up.....and that task fell to me. I spent a day there, alone, washing his final dishes, laundering the last clothes he wore....etc. It was a moving experience, and he felt very close. I brought his old chore sweatshirt and gloves here to our farm, because he wore them out here when he helped with farm work.....just something special about having those everyday things of his here with us. Every now and then, my daughter will say, "I feel Grandpa here." Maybe she does.....
This gets deep.....no one will probably read this comment anyhow.....I've read that there is an unconscious part of us that knows everything that will take place, probably because everything HAS taken place, it just hasn't filtered through our life yet. I think there's a reason I never picked up that piece of tile. Also, the toy bulldozer had been buried in pile of old toys FOR YEARS in the garage, and about a week BEFORE Aaron's accident, I for some unknown, random reason, went to that toy pile and pulled out the bulldozer and two tractors to put out amongst the flowers near the house. I had never done that before in my life, and I don't know what prompted me to do it when I did.
Pay attention in your own life.....to little random things that you do, seemingly unthinkingly. There may end up being a connection to a future event in your life.
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