Unicorn Meadows Rett Syndrome

For the love of our special angel who we miss so very much & always will..

Angels are Real... [Download pdf file]

First shared in small part by Laura’s dad on August 9^th, 2007 and expanded on April 23^rd 2010.

Don’t weep at my grave... [Download pdf file]

Read by Laura’s little sister, Danielle 12, on April 23^rd 2010.

Lost our special Angel... [Download pdf file]

Silent Angels (Life with a special needs child)... [Download pdf file]

Written & published by Laura’s mom.

This is the run-in where I would wait in the mornings, over a period of several years, with Laura for her little school bus.

We called it ‘the little house’. We extensively decorated it for Christmas, Halloween and Easter. April 24^th 2010

Although we had promises of help to move the run-in from the end of the driveway, weeks passed and the help never materialized.

Cindy, Peter & I manually moved the 1000+ lb. run-in ourselves over 150 feet to what will become Laura’s Garden.

A close up of the ‘little house’ with a water fall/fountain on the left.

Danielle paid for the fountain using most of her savings account.

This is the area of our yard, a work in progress on June 5^th 2010, that will be Laura’s Garden.

Butterfly Bushes will form a curved wall between the ‘little house’ & the entrance.

The grass has been partially removed after using a sod cutter on the entire right half

up to the chairs, but then the clutch jammed, stuck in cut & drive (it broke).

Glowing promises of help, labor & materials by a landscape company made in April

turned out to not be real, being withdrawn after meeting with us 3 times & planning details.

This was the dedication of Laura’s Garden on June 5^th 2010.

I apologize as not everyone appears in this photo, which was neither posed nor arranged.

Cindy spoke about Laura & I spoke about fireflies, dandelions & other things that Laura loved so much.

Cindy then offered anyone who wished to that they could spread Laura’s ashes in her garden.

Cindy & Bernie sitting & talking on our porch talking on June 5^th 2010.

Baba (Laura’s paternal grandmother) & Helen listening to Peter’s conversation on June 5^th 2010.

Laura’s Uncle Bill & Aunt Rose are standing at the edge of the garden. Laura enjoyed to visit them but hated the long ride.

June 5^th 2010.

Russ our neighbor & friend for 2 decades enjoyed often visiting with us. June 5^th 2010.

A 5-second time exposure of the butterfly lights in the ‘little house’ on June 5^th 2010.

The 80 solar powered butterfly lights slowly change color all night long.

My nephew Steve (Bill’s son) showed up to get things moving at 8:30 AM on June 18^th 2010,

after a 3½ hour ride (not counting the time to pickup the rental equipment), & set to work

clearing the areas that are to be planted, as well as extensive overgrowth (not seen),

where a culvert will be placed to correct the drainage back to its natural state.

Steve commenting that “I know I’m seriously overloaded, but it’s not quite double the towing capacity,

and I take it slow”. What he was towing weighted more than the vehicle towing it.

Who needs a truck anyway, thanks Steve, June 18^th 2010.

The results of 3½ hours of work, including stump removal & more by Steve, June 18^th 2010.

I know it is a mess, but it is a work in progress & will look great, I keep telling Cindy.

Now I have to manually cleaning up the edges and the surrounding area with a

shovel, rake & wheel barrel this weekend. Peter & Danielle will be helping me on

father’s day. Planting soil & stone should arrive next week, and we will finally get

the butterfly bushes, and other plants in the ground where they belong, to grow.

Steve & Rose showed up at 8:00 AM on June 23^rd 2010, ready to get dirty. The planting soil,

10 cubic yards, the stone dust 2 cubic yards & stones arrived. Unfortunately, the truck dumping

the soil got stuck & tore up the grass with 6 in. + ruts, some more work that has to be tended to.

The entrance of the path is where an arbor will be. Peter & Danielle literally dug in when they

got home from ½ days at their schools (HCRHS & EATS).

A wide view of Laura’s Garden on June 23^rd 2010. There are still a lot of details to tend to

yet including reseeding damaged grass, digging & installing the culvert to correct drainage and more.

Thank you Steve, Rose, Bill, Peter, Danielle and Cindy for making Laura’s Garden become real.

Pictures of Laura’s Garden June 25^th 2010.

Considerable work remains, details & more, but we wanted to share Laura’s Garden with you.

Pictures of Laura’s Garden June 25^th 2010.

Laura loved to try to catch the birds at Sandbridge Beach, VA, Bass River State Forest, NJ, and Myrtle Beach, SC.

She always asked if she could have one as a pet and we always said yes if she could catch one she could take it home.

Alas, although she had a lot of fun trying, she never caught one. Pictures of Laura’s Garden June 25^th 2010.

Pictures of Laura’s Garden June 25^th 2010.

The “little house” aka run-in is in its final location, but still needs to be leveled.

Pictures of Laura’s Garden June 25^th 2010.

This is the Hasty Acres Heads Up Special Riders plaque at the entrance to Laura’s Garden on June 30^th 2010.

Hasty Acres Heads Up Special Riders bench and plaque at the entrance to Laura’s Garden on June 30^th 2010.

Twilight descends upon Laura’s Garden.

June 30^th 2010.

Light fading fast as 80 solar powered butterfly lights and 24 solar powered path lights illuminate Laura’s Garden.

June 30^th 2010.

A 5 second time exposure, using manual focus, of Laura’s Garden illuminated only by the solar powered lights.

June 30^th 2010.

A gift from Laura’s cousin Jaclyn that she bought while on vacation, she wanted a pug for the Garden because Skip,

Laura’s pug was always at her side. July 11^th 2010.

Laura’s Garden July 11^th 2010.

A Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeding on a flower of the butterfly bush. Laura’s Garden July 11^th 2010.

Late in the afternoon Cindy saw 3 Tiger Swallowtail butterflies on the same flower in Laura’s Garden.

I was able to get one picture of them together, then they went to different plants. Laura’s Garden July 12^th 2010.

One Tiger Swallow Tail butterfly with slightly broken wings flew around me many times
and towards my face several times over about 15 minutes. Laura’s Garden July 12^th 2010.

A sunflower flag next to sunflowers Cindy planted in the garden.

Laura’s Garden July 12^th 2010.

Laura has a Flemish Giant rabbit that is over 26 pounds (a runt), we brought to her school & showed it as the Easter Bunny.

Laura’s Garden July 12^th 2010.

Laura loved to feed the ducks at Bass River State Forest, NJ. She would go out looking for them when she heard them.

This year we saw a mother & father duck but we did not see any baby ducks with them, we fed them but it was very sad

that their baby ducks were missing. Laura’s Garden July 12^th 2010.

Laura’s Garden July 12^th 2010.

A bird bath from Smithville, NJ that we found for Laura’s Garden July 12^th 2010.

A gift from Ashley & Jacob for Laura’s Garden July 14^th 2010.

Laura was always so extremely happy & very proud to say “I’m your Aunt Laura” to Jacob & Ashley.

Laura wanted to just simply love them, hold them, play with them and to help take care of them in any way at all.

It made her so very happy when she could. It was one of the very few times her hands did not tremble or shake.

The arbor at the end of the walk, forming the entrance to Laura’s Garden July 14^th 2010.

The arbor still needs to be mounted and positioned properly as of that date.

The arbor positioned and securely mounted forming the entrance to Laura’s Garden on August 10, 2010.

Five cubic yards of mulch was moved from the driveway with a wheelbarrow and spread by hand at Laura’s Garden.

A Monarch butterfly visiting Laura’s Garden on Laura’s Garden on August 10, 2010.

We have also had Tiger Swallow Tail and Black Swallow Tail butterflies in the garden

as well as many types of moths, humming birds and bees.

A ceramic dove nesting in the new mulch at Laura’s Garden on August 10, 2010.

Danielle bought the dove in North Carolina for Cindy in July on a long drive to Myrtle Beach to spend a week at a friend’s house.

Thank you Norma and Jim for the vacation.

A holly tree with green berries at Laura’s Garden on August 10, 2010, the tree was planted about the time when Laura was born,

a gift of a tiny 4 or 5 inch tree from an old work friend at the City of Elizabeth, thank you Regina.

You can see parts of the drainage ditch behind the tree that my nephew Steve and his cousin David
constructed with help from our son Peter.

A very colorful mum that caught our eye and was on clearance (unfortunately the picture doesn’t do it justice,

no matter how I adjust or do not adjust it), the actual mum in Laura’s Garden on August 10, 2010 seems to softy glow.

Sophie, Laura’s cat stretching out in Laura’s Garden after having a drink of water from the ceramic butterfly bowl on August 10, 2010.

A wishing well that Cindy likes and so do I in Laura’s Garden August 22, 2010 after a rain strom.

On August 22, I took a picture of the Wishing Well and I was surprised when I looked up and saw a rainbow over Laura’s Garden.

Rose, Laura’s aunt, sang a beautiful moving version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” at Laura’s memorial service.

It would have been a lot easier and faster if we had an unlimited budget, even any budget to create Laura’s Garden,

but alas we had a negative budget. A number of the items and services were donated by generous family and friends.

Glowing promises of help, labor & materials made in April by a professional landscape company to remove the

grass, turn over the soil put in a walk & edging turned out to not be real. After meeting with us 3 times, drawing

up plans, picking out stone types and patterns, they reneged on their promise just 2 days before the dedication,

leaving us with plants in buckets & pots rather than properly planted in the garden.

Almost all of the items we purchased where at discounts ranging from 10% to 90% with most from 30% to 75%

or more off their list price.

Laura’s Garden is a stressful but healing labor of love from her family and many friends.

We miss you Laura, Skip keeps looking for you in your room & waiting for you on the deck to come home from school,

barking when anyone shows up. Sophie keeps visiting your garden looking for you. We all miss you so very much.

I just don’t understand why you can’t come home so I can tell you I love you and to hear your voice saying you love me.

September 12^th 1993 – April 17^th 2010

On Tuesday night April 13^th 2010 at bed time Laura kept saying again & again ‘take my picture, take my picture’.

She would not stop so I finally did with my cell phone with only the 4 watt night light on in her bedroom (no flash).

The first time the picture was all black, I moved the night light & took this second photograph, which I showed to Laura

and said ‘we can see you now’, I almost never showed Laura the pictures on my camera let along my cell phone.

Laura then told me ‘thank you, I love you daddy’. I gave her a kiss and said, ‘I love you too hon (honey),

please go to sleep so you won’t be tired for school in the morning.’

Laura loved going to the Midland School so much that she was lost on snow days & holidays.

We cannot believe that this is the last photograph of our beautiful angel we will ever have.

I love you Laura & always will.

Daddy

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This web page was last updated 28 January 2018