Dunbar Memorial Garden

Today was one of those incredibly special days when the collection of bodies and hearts at the garden all kind of squashed together into a perfect unit of laughter, labor, camaraderie, revelry and hugs (which of course, is my favorite part).

Like the steady rain that fell this week, folks ambled up this morning to weed, mulch, talk and work. Beth with her incredible hugs that remind me so much of Hannah - her awesome beau Dawson, Jaz with her most excellent sand moving and mulching SKILLZ, Audrey with the most perfect smile, her mom and aunt to help as well. James and Jerome arrived - as did Chris who proceeded to go fetch Richard then back again playing tunes on his iPhone while our dancing queen Tyler (sorry dude - you started it!) put the groove on and then just as we seemed to be making grand progress on pulling stray sunflowers, here comes Anna with her red maple for Josh and her wonderfully happy boyfriend Adam (although I wondered if he was laughing at us as much as he was with us).

So, having grown this precious tree from a seedling back in her elementary school days, Anna's maple needed a place to spread its proverbial and literal roots. We found one, nestled between the fringetrees and so yeah, a big hole had to be dug.

While most days we are kind of prepared at the garden, some days we pull an epic fail as we did today with nothing but hand tools. So Chris and I absconded to his parents garage and grabbed two shovels and fled. An additional trip was made later once they hit the gravel and crud that is the next 6" of ground and picked up a pick axe. Luckily James, who hates pulling weeds, loves to swing a sharp and dangerous object so between them all they dug a spot, we hauled out the gravel, hauled in some pretty soil and planted a very very VERY special tree.

We have learned the hard way that sometimes our best plans fail and our offshoots overwhelm but each of us took part in this planting in some way and today, most importantly of all, Josh Shipman was honored. I hope somewhere out there, wherever he is, he will take a special interest in this special tree from this special young woman in this very special place.


So much love has been poured into that plot of land outside Dunbar's cafeteria - and even more today. No words can quite describe it and you kind of have to be there to fully appreciate it. This day in June, we were all proud to be there - we were all proud of Anna for her diligent work and her years of tending this beautiful tree.

When Jesse's dad asked Anna what "name" she would give to this tree, she said: "freedom" and I looked at her and through tears said "Wherever Josh is right now, I hope he is free." Her beautiful face was my answer.

Thank you, Anna. We will tend your gift well. We promise. <3>