Last weekend my family and I were in Ohio, the state where I was born. We visited the graves of my brother, Jim, and my mom. For 24 years Jim cleaned, flowered and cared for our mom’s grave.
My sister and I will now repay him–at least in a part-time, we-live-out-of-state sort of way, by adorning his headstone.

It’s fitting that in lieu of a dash, his life is marked by a shamrock. He lived with a flourish, to the very last day./Photo by Matthew Cowan
We think he’d be happy that his final resting place is beneath a big, old tree, and that he’s in a busy part of the cemetery. To his right is an infant girl. I like to think of them comforting each other.
Touching, bittersweet moment in life. Thank you for sharing.