Sawyer's Place

To loose a child.  Unthinkable.  I suppose most people wonder how they would face tragedy.  It's a question you never want to be able to answer.  The year of firsts.  The first birthday you miss with your child.  The first Christmas.  The first day of school.  The first day of summer.  All of these firsts and then it's the first anniversary of the first day you missed him with deep, hollow sorrow.

So we did what we could and turned it in a day filled with family and friends.  Being active, planting life in the form of trees and sharing it with others.  "Sawyer's Place" was born.  We laid flagstone and erected a wall of those rugged stones.  The bench was lovingly handcrafted by a gentleman in the Yreka area.  The expenses were funded through donations from the staff at Yreka High School and the Educational Options program.  This is the district I work for.  So generous, so caring.

Today I spent the afternoon with two friends from work.  They so graciously gave their Saturday afternoon to go one step further with this precious place.  Mark stained the bench while Sue and I dug up the hardened earth and planted the plants we had brought.  We installed a water system, complete with a drip to each tree and mulched the area.  Whew....  I don't know about them but I was beat.  It felt good to work hard and get sweaty.  And yes, the shower I took later was rewarding.

As I stood and pondered the amazing view from the bench, I told Sawyer-isms.  Stories of a hope for a bright future.  Stories of many memories.  As I pondered this tonight, I remembered something from my devotional from a few days ago.  ""To Know Christ" (Phil. 3:10) is life's greatest achievement."  And I know this to be true with Sawyer.

 

"Sawyer's Place" is located at Cedar Lodge at KCOC.  If you are ever up that way, stop in and enjoy the view and say a prayer for all the kids who are fortunate to go to camp there.