Dear Michael,
I hope you had a wonderful birthday and that they treated you to a great party. We tried our best to celebrate here. I know that last year I got you the coolest present ever with that guitar shirt that really played, but I tried my best to top it this year. The first gift I gave you was actually gifts for all of your family that belonged to you along with letters that described where each item came from. I really wanted to give them all a little piece of you for your birthday. I also sent them all a note on facebook with all of the emails you sent me from Alaska. That way they could read a letter from you today. Then Little E and I made green cupcakes for your party and I bought Dr. Pepper and balloons to take out to "daddy's place" with her and my parents so we could celebrate right. We each wrote a note to you telling you happy birthday and tied them to the balloons to try to "send" them to you for Little E. I am sure you were laughing at our attempt because the notes were too heavy and the balloon just flew into a tree instead. We cut the notes off (I am keeping them for now) and sent the balloons off alone.
 |
| Our green cupcakes, we made the frosting too. They are on your favorite plate. :) |
 |
| Little E ate 3 cupcakes and kept trying to steal more. She thought they were scrumptious! |
I gave you two other gifts for your birthday that I hope you enjoyed. The first was your headstone. I worked on it from basically November to March and made it as personal as I could for you. The front has your favorite picture of yourself on it along with your name and information. Underneath the bench it the picture of you from the Alaska trip last year and instead of looking at the ocean you are looking at the night sky. You always loved star gazing so much. The stars have special significance too. I looked up what the night sky actually looked like on the night you were born in 1979. Then I had them put the constellations on just as they were that night. The quote comes from one of your favorite story's Don Quixote. You always managed to reach for the stars love, I beleive you have finally arrived.
 |
| Front. The quote says "Dream the impossible dream, Reach the unreachable star." |
 |
| The picture from Alaska that I used for the front. |
The back side has the picture of our whole family along with our hand prints and a quote I just stumbled across when I was looking around online for something that would fit. It fits perfectly! The names are all written in your actual handwriting that I took from your journal and book you wrote our name in. I really hope that you like it. I have had several people (including the funeral director) comment on how unique it is. You were the most unique person I have ever known so I think it fits. I love you honey!
 |
| Back, with our actual hand prints! The quote says "If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you made me smile, I would have the whole night sky in the palm of my hand" |
The last gift I gave you was me starting up guitar lessons again. I learned "Time of your life" by Greenday for you. You were right, Greenday songs are so easy! I am only sorry I never learned them while I could jam out with you. It took me a few days of playing it before I realized you used to play this one on the same guitar. :) That totally made my day! I know it seemed like I was always putting off learning songs to play with you, but I want you to know I really meant to do it. I actually had a piece of paper on the fridge where I was writing down songs for you to teach me that I would hear on the radio. I was really looking forward to making your face light up by saying "Ok honey, here are the songs I want to learn. Lets jam!" I was actually hoping to do that after you came home from that last trip. While I am sad that is never going to happen, I plan on playing you many songs while sitting on your new bench and hope they will make you proud! I love you and hope you had an absolutely amazing birthday with your sister Sarah!
Love,
Jenny
 |
| Little E in her Star Wars shirt, in honor of your birthday! Little M wore a polo shirt that reminded me of you, but I didn't get a good picture of him. |
3 comments:
The headstone looks amazing!! I hope you love it, because it is so unique and turned out great. I love how you used his handwriting. It made me anxious to get ours in. :) The cupcakes looked delicious!
I love Michael's headstone! Wow Jenni, it's perfect, so unique and beautiful (I mean manly). I love the dark stone, your hands, the handwriting, the family picture... everything. What a good wife you are. Know that I still pray for you and your little family regularly. I hope you can feel it.
What a fun way to celebrate! I'm so glad that your kids can be comfortable at the "Daddy Place", and can make some fun, positive memories there. You are such a good mom.
Post a Comment