Ten Months and a Garden in Memory of Leia

It is ten months today marking the day we met our Leia. I still wake up mornings thinking of her first thing. My thoughts always go to our little girl and what she would be doing if she were at the ten-month mark. She should be alive and here with us and enjoying life. But we all know she is not and I must go on as hard as it seems.

Soon after everything had happened with our Leia I had told my husband that I wanted to plant a tree in her memory in our back yard. Since we live in the south and our spring and summers are very hot we were told that waiting till the fall would be our best bet. I had called on a landscaper a few weeks back and met with him to show him where we wanted to plant the tree and what type we had in mind. My husband was leaning toward a Japanese Maple and I was favoring a tree with some type of pink blooms that would come out in the spring time. So after meeting with him he told me that he would get back to me in a couple of days. When I didn't hear from I just figured he was busy and sooner or later he would get back to me. Then on Thursday of that same week I had gone into work earlier and the landscaper had called while I was working. I couldn't take the time to talk to him at that moment so I let his call go to voice mail, never getting a chance to listen to it. Around early afternoon I decided to dash home to let our doggie out and found the landscaper was at our house working on putting in a tree. I called my husband in a panic asking him why he would just start working on the tree without getting back to us. He suggested I go out and talk to him and find out what he was doing. Upon talking with him and after several minutes of questioning I learned that five of our neighbors had gone in on putting in a tree and some other items for a garden. I was in tears as the landscaper stammered to tell me what he was doing. I was so touched by the kind gesture our neighbors had done for us and for our Leia. That night my husband and I got home and we went out to our yard to look at the tree and garden. It was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful garden. We were so touch by the kindness of what all these people had done. I saw my one neighbor who I walk with daily and I gave her a big hug and thanked her for the garden. She told me then that they had all wanted to do something in the spring but they thought it might be too soon and so they had decided to wait. A Japanese Maple was the tree that was planted along with several other bushes and flowers. I intend to go out this weekend and blow away all the leaves that have fallen on the garden in the past week. I look forward to being able to enjoy the garden for years to come. I've put in a few pictures of the garden taken this past weekend and with Leia's initial stones.

Dear Leia, I wish you were here with us today. I miss and love you so much. A day doesn't go by that I don't think of you and your pretty face. You will never be forgotten little girl. Love you, Mommy