Sunday, we had a few minutes to kill before we took Jagger back to Wills Point to meet his mom. We decided that we would stop in at the Grand Saline cemetery to see if a friend of mine had their headstone yet. Which, they did. This cemetery is very well kept with the graves blanketed in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />St. Augustine grass and no trash to be found.
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I remembered in 2002, there had been a baby found in the ditch somewhere around Grand Saline, and they never found the parents, if you want to call them that, or the persons responsible. I will never forget how the community came together and declared this child as "their child" and the "town's baby". The last few times we have been out there…we would always go by to visit this grave of the child named "Baby Grand".
Last Sunday, I saw something that just broke my heart and I could tell it crushed Jagger as well. This grave had at one time had some flowers and stuffed animals. They were still there in fact, but they were shredded to pieces….with legs flung on other graves, and grass that was knee high. Who ever had been tending this grave had mowed over the animals and never came back because it hasn't been mowed in forever! I immediately started getting upset.
Monday, I called the funeral home that directed over this child's burial. They told me that they were sorry for the lack of care taken on this grave. Clint, Jagger and I had decided on Sunday, that we would start coming through every other week and put out flowers, pulling weeds etc. I had already decided to put a fund together to put out a small head stone. After all, this at one time was the towns baby, but I see now how the town feels towards their children. When I told the funeral director of my plans, he told me he would get back to me on prices.
Finally, after calling the owner of the funeral home several times, because he is a very busy man, I got my response. The funeral home is going to take care of everything. I was so happy. No one is ever completely dead until they are forgotten. I did not want this child to go unforgotten. The small metal marker wasn't going to be enough to remind people that there are laws in place such as the Moses Law / Safe Haven Law keeping parents from throwing their new babies into garbage bins, toilets, or the ditch. Instead they can drop them off with no questions asked at fire stations, police stations, and hospitals. That got me to thinking. There signs that say "Safe baby site", but I do not see them locally. If they are there, they may not be in places that I see. Next time I got to town, I will go look….but in the mean time, visit this site: http://www.religioustolerance.org/saf_have.htm
I do not tell you this story for any kind of recognition…and actually almost didn't blog about it. But I realized that sometimes we hesitate looking into something that we feel passionate about because we are too afraid it will take up too much of our time or money to get them done. But more times than not, all we have to do is ask and someone might be willing to help. I hope everyone that reads this realizes that sometimes we get into too much of a routine of only doing what benefits us or we chose not to do something because we might be "put out" for a small amount of time or effort. There is a lot more that can be done behind the scenes to make someone's life smoother. This child may not ever know what it has meant to me, but maybe someone that is thinking about abandoning their child may run across that grave and seeing the tiny market could encourage them to take responsibility or change their mind about abandon it at all.
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