Smile, Though Your Heart is Aching

There was a tree-planting ceremony at the K-1 building for Ian yesterday. The first graders sang a song and recited a poem they had composed in his honor and memory. Each of the kids got a chance to place a shovelful of dirt on the pink flowering crabapple. They did a great job, and most of the tears came from the moms, dads, and teachers in attendance, not the kids.

Ian loved Hershey bars, so his big sister Ally gave a full-sized Hershey bar to each friend who came to help plant the tree. It was a bittersweet farewell.