Last year when my dear friends’ dog Sosa died unexpectedly, someone sent them a seedling tree.  In memory.  My friend Shane planted the tree and it started to sprout leaves and grow.  Their kids, when out on walks or in the yard would find beautiful stones or loose flowers and would take them to Sosa’s tree.  They would lay the rocks or buds down, their way of saying they were thinking of their angel.

Unfortunately we had a very wet summer and fall last year and Sosa’s tree was in a pot that didn’t drain well.  I had a conversation with Shane about how upset he was to see the tree failing, how much it meant to him that it thrive.  If Sosa couldn’t be with them, that tree needed to be.  I understood and I (nervously) volunteered to try to nurse the tree back to life over the winter.  To be honest, I didn’t think it was possible but I was going to try and try and try again. And then, I would try some more.

I re-potted the tree, brought it inside and I even talked to it — as if the tree was Sosa.  For months now, there was little change.  From time to time I’d see tips of branches greening and growing a bit but for the most part, I remained cautious about its future.

Until one morning, a leaf unfurled.  And then another.

If you ask Sosa’s human siblings what they want to do on any given day, you will sometimes hear them say: “we want to go to heaven to see Sosa”.   How many of us who have lost a furry friend are nodding right now, wishing for the same.

Little things can mean so much…