A warm day in December

This week I've received several gifts for Sully. It's strange to not know what to do with a baby gift. Will I pack everything away into a special box and open it from time to time after all is said and done? One suggestion was to pass the sweet little gifts on to Ella for her to use with all of the things she cares for around here - her chick, and owl, and 3 dollies, and Silver Wind the bouncing horse. Somehow it seems right for her to have these things of Sully's. After all, she looks after him so well even now. They would be such treasures to her.

One of my friends sent me bulbs to plant. Deep purple tulips for Sully and daffodils, my favorite, for me. The unseasonably warm day yesterday came at just the right time for Ella and I to take our hand shovels outside and plant them together. I looked all around the yard for the perfect place. I couldn't put them in the backyard. If we ever move I still want to be able to drive by and hopefully see them. And then I looked at Ella's cherry tree and knew underneath it was where Sully's tulips should grow. Her tree, planted the first Spring after her birth, has grown so beautifully. It seemed right for these delicate flowers that fade so quickly to blossom each year in remembrance under it's strong and graceful limbs. It felt good to put my hands in the earth, to plant something in the middle of December, to sit beside my daughter as she covered over each bulb and happily talked about Sully.