Yesterday, after school B and I went to visit Ava. As soon as I pulled up, I noticed her flowers were missing, everything else was there. . .her angel, her pinwheel, even the canister her flowers were in, was still there. My initial thought was maybe the wind got ahold of them. We walked up to Ava's marker and then I noticed even the styrofoam (that was built in) was missing from the canister. B and I looked around EVERYWHERE for ANY lil piece of Ava's arrangement for me to be comforted that the "wind" and not "someone" took her flowers, I realized it was impossible. It was impossible for the styrofoam and flowers to be "blown out" of the canister. I was also immediately able to eliminate the groundkeepers from doing anything with them...because 1) everyone else's flowers were still there from the weekend 2) they wouldn't have left her angel and pinwheel, everything would have been cleared out. I was upset, not mad, just upset. I immediately called J at work to tell him what happened. He couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe that someone could look at our lil princess' picture and take her flowers. Knowing there wasn't anything I could do about it, B and I went home. On our way home, the more I thought about it, the more "mad" I was getting. Since we are new to this, I just wanted to know if this is common, and if it is something else that we need to be aware of. B and I got home, let Lilly out, then we got right back in the car so I could drive back to the funeral home and ask.
As we pulled up, I could tell a visitation was about to start, so I specifically asked B to be on his best behavior and told him why. We walked inside and were thankfully greeted by Bryson our favorite funeral home director, the one who directed Ava's service. (I say thankfully because you might remember this post, where I told you about my horrible experience with our other funeral director. I just have to add that they have soo many people working at the funeral home, it really is amazing that Bryson was there in the front lobby. I have never seen him working the front door any other time we have gone.)
I noticed a police officer setting in a chair in the lobby, but I honestly didn't think much of it. I explained to Bryson what had just happened to us and I was just asking him if it was common for flowers to be taken. Meanwhile, as I was talking, I noticed B waving to the police officer. Bryson was very apologetic and wanted to go double check with the groundskeeper to see if they knew of anything happening to Ava's flowers or if they could think of anything that could have happened to them. As he left, B asked me why the police officer was there and I told him, I wasn't sure, and it probably wasn't any of our business. She overheard me and said it was ok to ask, it had been on the news. Then she told us a McKinney police officer (Officer John Libby) was killed in an off duty motorcycle/car accident on Memorial Day. I felt so horrible and embarrased that I had not seen it on the news! (I stopped watching the news, after Ava passed away. Every morning, as we got ready for work/school we always watched Fox 4 News. Well, recently one of the morning co-anchors had a lil baby girl, and I just haven't been able to bring myself to turn the morning news back on.) The police officer then explained to us that an officer stays with the deceased officer for 24 hours around the clock until the funeral. Then she told us that Officer Libby was her best friend, so she would be there the next day and Friday watching over him. I was truly touched by that!
I told her I was so sorry to hear of her loss, we were just recently in that same position. I told her about Ava. She complimented B for being so strong for his mommy. I just LOVE when others naturally see that sweet spirit B has and how well he helps takes care of me. By this time, Bryson came back. Him and I talked as B went to go continue his conversation with the police officer. Basically the only conclusion the groundskeeper could come up with was someone had taken them. Again, Bryson was very apologetic and even offered for me to go to the flower shop (inside the funeral home) and pick something out and it would be on him. I told him not to worry about it, it wasn't his fault, we had some other flowers at home that we could bring back. The next thing I know, B is sitting in the police officer's chair and she is tying his shoes for him. =) At the time, I didn't really know much about their conversation because I was busy with Bryson, so I thanked her and we said our good byes.
As we left, I called J to tell him about our special experience. I told him how Officer Messner was there all day and would be there Thursday and Friday as well and that we just had SUCH a special moment. I was amazed at her strength after just losing her best friend and felt like we needed to do something for her, knowing she would be there the next two days. . .that HAS to be an emotional time. J asked me what I had in mind, I told him I wasn't sure, but she was drinking some kind of a Starbucks drink so maybe that would be a good gift...(they even have a Starbucks cafe in the funeral home). So I planned on us going back the next day to give her a small lil treat as she watched over her best friend.
When I got home, I immediately went to the local newstation websites to read the stories on Officer Libby. Here and here are just a couple. All evening long, I continued to be truly touched by Officer Messner and Officer Libby.
Fast forward to today, B and I went to visit Ava after school. The moment I pulled up, I could tell someone did something special for our lil angel. =)
As we were leaving our lil princess, I looked over to the pond right next to where Ava is and I saw a duck! We have never seen ducks there before, so I got my phone out to take a picture. I wanted to be able to show B what he missed out on and just as I went to take the picture, the duck started to fly away. . .
I texted a picture and called J to tell him about Ava's beautiful gift. I told him, I suspected it was Bryson since he insisted the day before. J thought maybe it was him too because Bryson had called him earlier in the day, but J didn't get a chance to answer the phone. Just as soon as B and I got home, I got a call from J telling me to go back to the funeral home he had just talked to Bryson on the phone. He had a special gift for us on his desk. J wouldn't tell me what the gift was because he wanted us to be surprised.
As we drove back to the funeral home, now that B was awake, I told him he could give Officer Messner her gift when we saw her. As we pulled up, we didn't see her police car. I didn't think too much of it because I thought maybe she just parked in the back somewhere. We walked in the front door and B immediately noticed Officer Messner was not in the chair we saw her sitting in, instead a different police officer was on watch. I asked him if he knew where Officer Messner was and he said that she had just left, but she would be back tomorrow. I thanked him and then asked the funeral director that was in the lobby for Bryson. A few minutes later, Bryson came bearing a gift. He gave the gift to B and let him know that the nice police officer he met yesterday left him a special gift. Officer Messner got B a Lego police officer set and wrote him THE SWEETEST message on the box along with a sweet card for Jason and I. She thanked us for B's sweet words the day before and how he brought joy into her day. =)
She also wanted to make "right" what went wrong for us yesterday with Ava's flowers being taken. She gave Ava the gift of her big, BEAUTIFUL, pink gerber daises and gave B the special gift of the Police Officer Lego set. = ) Part of the special message she wrote, that I love, "Officer Libby will watch over your sister just like he's watching over us! She's got her own police officer!"
Afterwards, B wanted me to take him back to see Ava's new, BEAUTIFUL flowers. =)
A few things I learned from their brief lil conversation the day before was that B had told Officer Messner that she was his new best friend. . .since she just lost her best friend. He also told her that pink gerber daisies were our favorite flower for Ava. I am so thankful that we were able to meet Officer Messner, of course, I wish it could have been under different circumstances. She helped turn a bad situation, into a positive and memorable experience for us. =) After school tomorrow, B and I plan on going back to the funeral home and hope to see Officer Messner to give her our gift.
Here is a link to Officer Libby's online obituary if you would like to check it out. Please join us in saying an extra prayer on Saturday at 2:00 as his family and friends lay him to rest.
Thanks for following along with us,
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