New Life

Our friend Brad adored the woods, and red pines (Norway pines) were his favorite tree. Troy had the excellent idea to give away 82 pine saplings to friends and family after Brad's memorial service. We created a Google map so that people could plot out where the trees are planted.

Today Troy and I went up to Calf Mountain (technically outside of the Shenandoah park, although you go through the park to get to the trail) to plant our tree. We found a great spot with a gorgeous view. We know that Brad would have loved this place.


Troy dug a hole and we had our own little memorial service. We buried a tiny bit of Brad's ashes along with letters we had written to our dear friend.




We both felt better after having this very personalized ritual to honor Brad. And it seems really fitting to honor someone who has passed by cultivating new life.

It was a welcome and fun distraction to have my aunt, uncle and their 3 kids visit us last week. They just left today to spend a few days in DC before traveling back to MN. I'll post more about that soon.