An ideal space for my little sister, Cathy, would have to include sage, a little forest of aspens by a mountain lake, or a warm beach by the ocean, and quiet space to meditate, think, and breathe. She’d often take off and head up to Rocky Mountain National Park to Sprague Lake or some other spot just to get away from the pressures of her life and find some peace.

Once she came to the point where she could no longer drive, after suffering strokes, I know she missed those places very much. When some friends from the church in Omaha picked her up from our house in Mead to take her with them on a short trip through Wyoming, she wept. To lose her autonomy, her independence, and to have to live with her sister’s very active family, well, it cut deep into her spirit.

I could not understand. You couldn’t either. I had compassion and love, but I couldn’t know the loss she felt.

So, I planted this little aspen and have fought the heat and drought to keep it going. A good friend gave me this memorial stone after Cathy was killed and I plan to set it close by this tree. I want to build a little place here where she might have stood, burned some sage, said a prayer, and found some peace.