Here is part one of the post: Jalene's Memorial Garden, which Rowan designed by himself (with a little help from Jalene in his dreams), and then helped Keller Williams Realty install as part of their Red Days Service Project today. This post will hopefully show you how much thought, time and effort went into this memorial garden. The next post will show the end product, which turned out just beautifully!
It all started about a month ago, when Rose Martinez from Keller Williams, asked Rowan to please draw his vision of how he thought Jalene's Garden should look. Rowan had a dream about it, talked to Jalene about it, and drew this picture...
Rowan drew a stick figure with a sad face on the left side, and said that they might be sad when they first go out to the garden...
...but that, after sitting there for a little bit, they would hear Jalene, see her angel in all the beautiful things out there, talk to her, and end up being happy again.
He was so proud of the drawing. He said that his favorite part was that he knew it would honor Jalene, and help her family heal.
Then he and I started hunting for all of the perfect items that he dreamed about: bird feeder, bird bath, pink and yellow bench, pink and yellow flowers, butterfly step stones, cross, etc. And of course, Rowan picked the perfect pieces out...and God (and Jalene) helped him find everything on his list!
Imagine how happy he was to find this precious bird bath, which he immediately noticed, looked just like the picture of Jalene's angel that he drew before she passed away...
from the short hair...
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...right down to the bare feet:)
It was his favorite piece, and he couldn't wait for Jalene's family to see it.
After we found everything on his list, Rowan made a presentation board, diagramming his garden plans. Rose, with Keller Williams, told him he was the Project Manager, and that he could tell everyone that day, what to do,and where to put things.
Here is Rowan making the diagram poster, and then explaining all of it's components to his brother, Ian, and his Dad, Brian.
The next day, he went to Keller Williams City View Offices and presented his plans at their Team Meeting, in front of 30-40 realtors.
He gave Rose the "plans", so that she and the team could purchase the rest of the flowers, crushed granite, border, supplies, etc. for the install day, May 14th, Keller Williams RED DAY.
We've been waiting and waiting for the big day, and today it finally arrived!
We loaded the car, and headed for San Antonio...
Rowan wasn't feeling so great when we first arrived. He was in a lot of pain from yesterday's surgery.
After we gave him some more of his pain medicine though, he really perked up, and was ready to help. He told Jalene's grandma that he dreamed about Jalene last night and that she gave him strength:)
Then...he got out of his chair and got busy, along with all of the other volunteers...
When we first arrived they were debating which tree to place the garden around. they were debating between two different trees. Rowan looked over to the left though, at a third tree, and said "No, that one! It needs to be that one. It looks like a four, and she is four, it's that one." Ironically, it was the tree that Jen had originally sent me a picture of anyway, and the one she thought it was going to be around...so once again, it worked out perfectly. (And he is right...it totally looks like a four.)
He is so funny and so smart... he asked me if his counts were high enough for him to help with the dirt (good boy!).
Jalene's Mommy had to work late, so she won't see the garden until later tonight, but Rowan got to see Jalene's grandma...
...and to talk to Jalene's grandpa on the phone while he was at work. Rowan told him "I'm trying to make it the best I can for you."
Rowan did a great job as Project Manager! He had no problem telling all of the adults, "that goes here", "about this high", "put that one here in front", "I want these surrounding her", "no, both chairs need to be able to see her", etc.
He did a lot of the lifting and placing himself too...
...so much so, that after a couple hours, his pain was back up, and he was so wiped out. He climbed back into his chair and fell asleep within minutes.
Job well done, friend and project manager, Rowan. Your vision truly came to life. It took a lot of hard work, but oh it was so rewarding for all of us!
Thank you Rose Martinez & Keller Williams RED DAY volunteers, for making Rowan's dream garden a reality for Jalene's family!
...to be continued...
in Jalene's Memorial Garden...Part Two..."the end result, the dream garden becomes a reality"
Absolutely beautiful well done.
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