Hudson’s Bench

Before last week, Hudson’s body and spirit already permanently occupied the National Arboretum—on her birthday, we sprinkled a small portion of her ashes under a large dogwood tree in the Dogwood Collection, and quite honestly, I don’t think you can visit the place without feeling her everywhere. I know I can’t.

But now, her bench has provided us with a beautiful and tangible memorial of her, one that we can all see and touch, one on which generations of people of all ages can climb, play, cry, laugh, hold hands, kiss, rest, think, and ponder about this special little girl who inspired such a gift. We will be forever grateful to our friends Kim and Shawn for organizing the fundraising effort for the placement of the bench, and to the dozens of loved ones who contributed to this very special tribute to our girl. Because they raised more than double the amount required, Hudson’s bench will be in this very special place for more than thirty years. Amazing.

Many friends and family, including many of Hudson’s little friends, gathered with us at the Arboretum on Friday, the anniversary of Hudson’s death, to remember her, dedicate her bench, and blow bubbles to send her spirit off on an eternal mission of bringing more love and light to the world. We shared some words and some bubbles, and sang “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” one of Hudson’s favorites (her favorite parts were “Up above the world so high,” where she would sing “uppabubba” and “Like a diamond in the sky,” where she would hold her two pointer fingers together in the air, more of a roof than a diamond, but she was always very pleased with herself).

Our dear friend, Kirsten, was kind enough to take photos for us. The photos so beautifully capture how perfect this remembrance was for our girl and I wanted to share them with you. Thank you again to everyone who was there with us both in person and in spirit. I am working on collecting all the bubble photos together and will post about them soon, too.

I hope that you will have a chance to visit Hudson’s bench someday and spend some time with her there. It will be the site of many a family pilgrimage and photo for us (including some very soon once Jackson arrives), and although I wish more than anything that it had no reason to exist, if I can’t have my girl, I’m grateful to have such a special place to be with her. It is most certainly One Good Thing.