Family Time

It was another long, but fun and productive day for us. Our van broke down and we were able to get it out of the shop this afternoon. The catalytic converter stopped up and the van would not start. On the way home from picking it up, we stopped by the cemetery. It had been a few weeks since we'd been out there. I was not having a bad day and I was feeling rather cheerful, but the moment his grave came into sight, I had tears welling up. I sat on the ground, remembering seeing him in his tiny casket and knowing he was right there, next to me. I had to fight the urge to start digging with my hands to get to him so I could hold him again. I had myself a good cry and it was time to leave.

As we left, we passed by a place that Rob and I had read about that had a hidden geocache. We stopped and were able to find it. It was our first find. It did wonders to cheer me up and we decided to pick up the boys and take them out looking for another one.

We ended up in the woods looking for the cache, but we didn't know how to use the GPS program in our phone so we couldn't find it. After an hour of hiking in the woods with the boys (and having a great time) we decided to call it a day. Rob and I figured we could do some research and try again another day.

Matthew and Brandon asked to go the cemetery as well after finding out we had gone earlier. We took them and we sat on the ground by his grave. Brandon took off his shoes and asked if he could walk on the dirt and I let him. As we talked about Tommy, he crouched down and picked at the dirt in frustration. I knew what he was thinking. The same thing I had earlier in the day. He said he wanted to get Tommy out. I told him even if we could, it would just be his body and the thing that made Tommy alive was in Heaven. Brandon then drew a heart in the dirt and asked me how to spell "I love you", so we used our fingers to write "I love you" in the dirt and draw hearts. When it was time to leave, he ran over and kissed the marker and told Tommy he loved him.

Matthew had placed a very large shell on Tommy's grave a few weeks ago. We told him he could go ahead and take it home because we found out the HARD way that any mementos that we leave on Tommy's grave get thrown away by the groundskeepers when they mow. All of the beautiful things that meant so much to me that people had left are all gone. Makes me very sad. Until we can get him a headstone to put the flowers on, everything will just get thrown away. I don't see a headstone any time soon because we have not had a donation to his funeral expenses since Christmas. We still owe a substantial amount to the funeral home. Anyone willing to donate to that fund can donate by either using the link on this page or by contacting Barlow's Funeral Home here in Bardstown, KY directly.

Now back on topic...The boys can't wait to go geocaching again. We ended our day with ice cream cones and the boys watching the moths dancing around our porch light as the sun set. They are now soundly sleeping in their beds. They have day camp for the rest of the summer. I'm sure they will be going in tomorrow talking all about walking in the woods, the GIANT bug we found and looking for treasure. Some photos of our day. Excuse the quality, nobody seemed to want to stand still long enough for a picture.


Matthew in the woods


Looking for the cache


Up in a tree


Scared to get down from the tree!


Big Brother to the rescue!


Brandon was very happy to be back on the ground.

The female Eastern Hercules Beetle we found. Biggest beetle in America and we find one alive by accident. Yes, that is a pen beside it.