Memory Jar

"When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure."-Unknown

The treasured memory of Jackson Neil DeLoach.  What a perfect treasure he was, and what innocent, sweet memories we have of him.

Since we do not have too many memories of him during his time here on Earth, we have begun to treasure and document the moments when we can feel him around us. These types of memories are actually filling up the memory jar at a very rapid pace these days. This phenomenon is a true blessing, and we are on our knees daily thanking heaven for these moments. 

We were given an actual memory jar at one of our first showers for Jackson. The jar came with note cards for us to write down memories and throw them in the jar. Some of the note cards even had prompters on them like "first tooth", "first hair cut", "first solid food", "first word", ect. The point of the jar is for a busy Mama and Daddy to be able to quickly document an exciting milestone.  A "drive-by" type moment, if you will.  Document, drop and go. Repeat. Then later, go back and put them all in a baby book when you have a wee bit more "free time" OR you have had enough sleep under your belt to ensure that your penmanship does not look like a Kindergarteners. Hey, the first year of life baby book is the holy grail of parental accomplishments in a life-changing and whirlwind of a year.  No one wants to look down and see a crooked R, a wonky S, a really bad B that could have been a D, and lord knows no one wants to see the added hook on an N when it should have been a well executed M. So, memory jars are a brilliant idea for capturing your memories on the go, and then experiencing the nostalgia of remembering and relieving those sweet memories much later down the road. 

Jackson's actual memory jar is packed away. That very memory jar will be used much later for #2. For right now, we are going to try to write down, photograph (if possible), and share on our blog the memories that we are experiencing because we treasure them so much.

Here is the current parade of memories......

Exhibit A:

Boom. How about that? I mean, seriously?! This photo does it no justice, but you can at least get the picture. A perfect opening shining down right in our back yard. I was not the only one outside taking a picture. This one totally attracted lots of attention from our neighbors. I like to believe that Jackson would have been quite the attention getter if he were here with us, so naturally, this type of sunset is his only way of showing off these days. We will take it!  Another deposit in the memory jar. Cha-ching. Do ya thang, JND. You do it so very well.

 Exhibit B:

Russ called me outside quickly. He wanted me to see the sunset on Saturday night. And here you have it....

 Cha-ching again. Both my boys in a photo. One happy Mama.

Other memory jar deposits:

Russ had a big football game a few weeks ago against a tough in-town rival. There were some nail biter moments and some really great plays. During one particular critical play Russ said to himself, "Jackson, are we gonna score on this drive?". JND delivered , and fast. The very next play they scored a touch down. They also won the game :) That story made me cry.

I was chatting with a couple of ladies in an office a few weeks ago, and we were literally talking about the weather. I know, talking about the weather...so cliche. We really were talking big weather. You would have thought that we were all meteorologists. We talked about how unseasonably warm and humid it has been for the mountains this summer. We threw around warm and cool front like it was our job. In the middle of auditions to be the next Chief Meteorologist, one lady chimed in and said, "Hey, has anyone noticed the volume of butterflies that are around this year? It seems so late to have butterflies in such abundance!".  Well sister, I could not agree more. I chose NOT to respond back with, "Oh, those are just my son! Didn't you know that?!". That just seemed like...well....crazy talk.  Is there a lot of butterflies up here right now? Yes. Is it weird? Yes. Is it a coincidence? I don't know. Do I want to believe that it is JND? You bet. We probably are just in the middle of a butterfly boom.  What will go in the memory jar is the fact that Summer 2012 had a ridiculous amount of butterflies. Some where in the thousands I feel like I have seen, I can find my son in many of them. 

These are just four of the memories that are going into the jar right now. Many, many more to come. I like the whole memory jar concept, and I think it will help us heal, grow, and appropriately cherish the life and spirit of our Jackson. We love him so.

Time to head off to work, and finish off this crazy busy week. I am looking forward to getting home today and finding a very special person sitting in our living room. That person is my sister! She is coming up to spend the weekend with us, and we are so excited. She is the best. We always have such a good time, and we are looking forward to the 3 Musketeers being back together again. Life resumes. A weekend like we used to have could be a very, very good thing!

Cheers to a fun weekend full of fun, laughter, and good quality memories!

Love, 

Emily and Russ