When Colby was young he loved to garden. He could not wait every spring until we made the pilgrimage to The Home Depot or Lowe's to choose vegetables and other plants for our garden. He especially loved to plant herbs: mint, spearmint, lemon verbena, etc.
One spring when Colby was about eight, my mother was visiting and noticed we had a lot of dandelions in our yard. She made him a deal. For every dandelion he dug up with roots attached, she would give him a dime. Mom thought this would keep Colby busy on a quiet weekend and help the yard at the same time. Just think if he dug up fifty plants, what a difference that would make in your yard, she said. That's also fifty fewer plants that will go to seed.
Imagine her surprise, and mine, when Colby spent the entire weekend digging up dandelions. He dug not just fifty, or even one hundred fifty. Colby dug up eleven hundred dandelion plants. Shows you the state my yard was in. Mom made good on her deal and paid Colby $110.
Every year since then, paid or not, Colby made it his job to dig up dandelions in the spring. Today as I look out in my yard I see a number of them and I am torn. I can't bear the thought of digging them up because that is another hard, cold, reality that Colby is not here. But I should not leave the dandelions to seed the yard, either. I know this is something I have to do, hard as it will be. I will bring a lot of Kleenex along with Colby's trowel. And I will do this for Colby, to honor the many years he did this for me.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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dear lisa,
ReplyDeletei am so sorry for the loss of your son, colby.
i want to thank you for sharing what you are going thru. my sons best friend, garet, died last december. he was 24. he was a part of my family and his death devastated all of us.
drug addiction was what ultimitely caused his death. a customer of mine suggested your blog to me and i cant tell you how much it has helped me to read what you're feeling, how you're getting thru this tragedy..thank you.
with gratitude, debbi stone
Hi Debbi,
ReplyDeleteI was so saddened to hear of the loss of Garet. Each one of us touches so many people. I believe that none of us knows the true extent of the positive impact we have on others. I know Colby didn't and I am sure that Garet did not either. This kind of grief is a process. I am so glad my words offer you some comfort. Stay strong and thank you so much for writing.
Lisa