Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a different day for me now.  It's so much more personal now that I have someone to visit.  We chose to go visit Laila on Sunday before all the crowds came the following day.  We had some good friends in town and we made them come along with us.  When we got there we saw that someone had already brought Laila some pretty flowers.  Then, as we visited at the cemetery some other good friends showed up with more flowers.  It was really touching to see the flower arrangement their nine year old daughter had made.  She had made her own arrangement to replicate Laila.  It was so sweet with a pretty smile and a hair bow donated from her sister Grace (three days older than Laila).  We drove down to the spot that we were supposed to bury Laila and had it reaffirmed in our minds that the spot we chose was the right spot.  There was just such a better feeling where she is rather than amongst all the moldy stuffed animals, fake angels, and broken toys.  I like her buried right where she is, with a view of the mountains and surrounded by at least three other members of the church.  It was sad though to see a third baby buried in that row.  My heart ached for that family who are dealing with fresh sorrow.  The next day, Memorial Day, we spent at home getting things done around the house and running errands.  We also went for a walk and when we got back we were welcomed by a member of our ward who handed us a fresh plate of cookies.  His wife just had a baby but she made delicious cookies with a sweet and simple note telling us that they were thinking about us that day.  It touched me to know that while we were missing our Laila on Memorial Day there were people thinking about us and remembering not only her, but us and our pain.