Tonight while awaiting the new year (oh dear, it’s already here!), I came across a visit I made with my middle daughter to the burial place of a distant family line.  It was a sunny day and ours was a genealogical mission. We found the family enclosure on church grounds and read several epitaphs:  “Father in thy gracious keeping leave we now thy servant sleeping”; “She had departed but has left with us a happy memory of her many virtues”; “Lord at thy side let my place and portion be. I would in thy peace abide for thou lovest me.”

As we were returning to our van, we were drawn to another enclosure whose entrance was  an arbor shaded by a tree from which ornaments and wind chimes dangled. The site included a garden bench. Several stuffed toys lay atop the small grave which bore the marker “Jon Benet Patricia Ramsey.”