Headstone

Yesterday morning I got a call from Tomas who takes care of the family graves down in Douglas.  He told me that Teresa's headstone had come in and that he was installing it.   I asked him if he would text me a picture of it and he did. I immediately sent it to Judy.

I then sent it to Kerri as she and Chris were up at the cabin just in case they were going to come back through Douglas.  Don't know if they had planned on it, but a couple of hours later we got this picture from Kerri saying how nice it looked.  I was touched that they went to see it. 

I had ordered it when I was in Douglas earlier this month.  Judy had said to make it like my mom's and to be sure that there was a rose on it.   When Pete (who does the headstones) came over, he had a picture of my mom's and it has a rose on it.   So Teresa's is basically just like my mom's.   The one thing that I asked Judy if we could add was the word "Tia" on it because that is what Cameron always called her.  So it has Tia on it.

I want to share the story of Tomas because I don't think I have.   During the time I was in Douglas every April or May, Tomas would come to the house. Teresa would write him a check to take care of the grass on the graves during the monsoon season (roughly May through October).    He came just before we left in 2015.

I never thought any more about it after we left and the few times I went to the cemetery after leaving it was in the winter.   Last April or so, I was in Tucson visiting Elise and Jessie.  Elise and I were at Fry's when I got a message on Facebook messenger from someone I didn't know.  Turns out it was Tomas' grandson.  He said that Tomas was trying to get in touch with me so I gave him my cell number.  

Tomas called me right away and he had taken care of the graves during the summer of 2016 and as he said, "every time he went to the house to get paid, no one was home!"   I explained that we had left in 2015.  I told him that I would be down in a week or so (because of the Gilbert field trips) and I would call him as soon as I got there and make arrangements to pay him for 2016 and 2017.  

I called him and he came over and I gave him a check for both years. We talked about Teresa and how she was declining and he suggested that we cement it over after she died so we wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. And that is what we will be doing.

But the point to this story is like so many others I have told about the people in Douglas. Tomas is retired from the city and does this to make a little extra money.   We didn't pay him at all in 2016 but he still continued to take care of the graves.  And he was going to start this summer, too.

It is these small acts of kindness that will continue to make me know that my time in Douglas with Teresa was so special in so many ways.  I think that is one of the reasons that this transition of selling 858 has been so hard for me. I don't have any place to go back to there.  However, I do have the generous offering of two very special friends and I will take them up on it.   Just don't know when that will be............