Letter to My Children (June 23, 2021)

Dear Jonathan, Sarah, Josh, and Christina,

Sunset from the field. On this particular evening, while walking, found a nook of the field with elderberry bushes! So far we’ve identified hemlocks and maples, big old ones! Apple, pear, mulberry, prune, and cherry trees. Lilacs, old rose bushes, loads of blackberries, locust trees for fence poles, walnut and birch trees. A pond and a swamp, field and forest, ohhh and bamboo!

All this is nice. But I cry each day, quietly while working. For you. Because I want to see you all, hug and laugh and talk with you. See your faces, hear your voices. Perhaps today is the day those keeping you from us will have a change of heart, and encourage you to go to your mom and dad. No one can replace you all. No one can take the place of your parents. You have dishonored us, your father and mother. Your many close relatives. But we all love you. And will do what we can, to let you know you are not forgotten, but missed and longed for. Soon. Soon we will be together again.

Xo mom