Two years ago this week, Josh read The Giving Tree to his Gurney one last time. Her casket was covered in roses and hydrangea. It was beautiful. Just like her soul. After the service, Jude took the book and held it. And he wept for her. He loved the tree and he already missed her laugh that required her to hold her belly. He sat in the vehicle while we loaded everything for the graveside service, and he quietly embraced his book, covered in his crayon markings; the one that he had read to her just days before her soul slipped into Heaven.
We drove through the country roads, following the roses and hydrangea. And Jude held his book and took in the ride. He watched the farmer stop his tractor in his field, the boy shut off his lawn mower and put his hat over his heart, the Mennonite girl stand from her garden and dust her hands on her dress apron. I leaned over to Jude and softly told him, "For Gurney". He never looked over at me, but I know he was touched by their love. They didn't love Gurney like we did, but they understood the love of the soul and how we grieve when it leaves it's earthly body. Once we drove up to the grave site, Josh left us to join the pallbearers and I grabbed Jude's free hand, the other one still grasping his book. Margo joined her Memaw and Papa. We were watching the pallbearers lift her casket when Jude let go of my hand and handed me his book. My seven year old boy silently left my side and joined the pallbearers. What they were carrying was precious to him.
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| Josh holding his hand out to Jude. |
We sat under the tent and a few words were spoken before Margo tried one last time to sing a song to her Gurney. But she couldn't. In the space where notes were supposed to fill, was overwhelming sadness.
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| Lucy comforting Jude with her presence. |
Only a few weeks later, we were back in school. Margo started 5th Grade and her teacher, Mrs. Rose, assigned the project of writing a memoir. This writing assignment is still my favorite that she's written in school. It's filled with the love that a 9 year old girl has for her 87 year old great-grandmother.
