“Three months of breathing clean air, I still miss your dragon smoke” (words modified from David’s Godmother Taylor). Three months. Some days are long. Some are short. I just know I never want to forget a single moment we shared together. Also, don’t worry – David’s smoke was just his nebs which didn’t have any effect on our breathing.
A couple weeks ago, I had been thinking that it had been a while since we’ve seen a sign from David, and I was starting to wonder when dragonflies tapered off for the year. Then I start to worry about what signs I’m going to see come winter, but I know David will show up in ways I can’t yet imagine. Well, we were getting ready to head to the store but there were still some toys strewn about the backyard, so I went out to pick up a couple things before we left. That’s when I noticed, sitting on a rock that Eli and Anna had placed on the deck steps earlier, was a dragonfly. I thanked David for visiting. The dragonfly then flew up and just sat on the deck. Of course my phone storage is full, so in typical David fashion, it hung around for a bit since I was unable to take its photo. I lingered for a bit and enjoyed the quiet moment with David, before heading back up the stairs, when the dragonfly flew right at me and buzzed my head. Oh David.
We then went to the store. Toward the end of our shopping trip, I saw a couple backpacks on clearance, but everyone else was taking a bathroom break, so I quickly went to grab the remaining items on the list. They returned, and we returned to the backpacks. Well, this time, I noticed a pair of socks with otters on them on the floor beneath the backpacks. I immediately thought of David and his otter stuffy (which was often mistaken for a sloth, or another creature) and his book “Otter’s Heart Family”, so of course I picked up the socks from the floor to show Adam. I was already in love with them and in the process of showing Adam what David sent me, when I turned them over and froze with shock. On the bottom of the socks were the words “Hello from the otter side”. I think my jaw dropped and I became speechless, I couldn’t believe it (although, I did think it said ‘other’ and not ‘otter’ for quite some time)! There’s no doubt in my mind that David had a hand in those socks. I needed to buy them, and I didn’t care the price (they ended up being $1). So, thank you David. Thank you for showing up when I needed it.
The next day, I got a message from one of his nurses, that she had a dragonfly visitor. I just love that he visits so many of the people that were a part of his short life. There are so many people who got to be a part of his story. I realized that as much as he was my David, David belonged to so many other’s as well, and I received lessons in sharing him. He was such a loved little boy, and I’m so thankful for all of the different folks in his life, and all the folks we got to meet because of him. He’s probably keeping pretty busy visiting every one of them. I know we are so grateful for those who were a part of David’s journey that we have been able to stay in touch with.
Later the next week, we wanted to burn some energy, so we went to the park. While I was helping Anna on a high piece of equipment, a dragonfly came and landed on my arm. Well, I didn’t know what it was at first and my reflexes immediately went to brush it away before I realized what I was shooing (sorry David). The dragonfly then went and sat on Adam’s hand for a bit (until the camera came out – stinker). After that, it hung around for quite some time while we all played a running racing game. It just sat on the curb very calmly (until Eli almost stepped on it). Later when it finally flew away, Eli tried to follow it, but it flew in an irregular path before Eli finally lost it into the trees. Ever since then, David’s been sending me a single dragonfly on my lunch walks – once when I was replying to one of his nurses and I think he wanted me to pass along his greetings, another time I was at the office and was finishing my walk and was starting to think he wouldn’t find me in that location when one appeared. Another day, there were dozens of them flying about – I have never noticed so many on a walk before. David always shows up when I least expect it, and I’m so grateful for that.
Otherwise, we’ve created some new currency for our family. Now when the kids complete their chores and accomplish their goals, they can earn some “David Bucks”. This currency is worse than the Imperial system of measurement – 7 coins to a dollar buck as they would say in Bluey. This allows them to earn one coin per day and then once they have 7 coins, they can trade them in for a David buck. They can save their dollars and coins until they have enough to trade them in for various toys depending on their value. It’s really sweet hearing the kids say “Thank you, David” when they earn a coin. I think we’re going to need more coins variations though. We only have two (a dragon heads with dragonfly tails, and an otter heads with jellyfish tails). They have made remarks about how they already have that coin and want a different one. Depending on time, I think it could be fun to have 7 different coins – one for each month David was alive, or maybe ones with Fern on them. We’ve only been doing it for a little over a week, so we’ll see how it progresses over time. They were really excited to see David’s face on their first dollar they earned. I love trying to find ways to keep David’s memory alive – especially for Eli and Anna. I want them to always remember they had a brother who absolutely adored them.
