Blank...

... but not the kind of Blank you might expect.

Blake (not Blank) was my kindergarten crush. I could never get his name right so I always called him "Blank" to everyone's delight.

"Blank said this..." or "Blank did that..."

Blank. We had a good laugh about it at the reunion. He was the first classmate I saw.

He invited me over to see the house where he was holding the reunion. The hug was incredible and so was the house. The entire time spent with him was incredible.

I asked him, knowing his father was resting in the same cemetery, to help me find my parents. Despite his busy schedule preparing for the event he agreed. At 11 o'clock the next morning we met at the caretaker's office and got directions.

We came upon my mother's stone... then my father's marker. I broke down. I lost it because my siblings and I have yet to purchase my father's gravestone and it just seemed neglectful on my part. I took care of everything for my Dad up until the end and now I felt I had failed him.

I noticed the clover around Mom's grave and Blank said, "Oh look at the sweet clover by your mom's grave." I reached down and plucked one to take with me.

"Notice there isn't one by your Dad's." We broke out in laughter (my Dad was well-known by many to be a don't-you-try-to-shit-me grumpy man.) That moment of laughter was something I knew Dad would appreciate and love.

Then I noticed something bright red by Dad's marker. "That's a wild strawberry, Kelly."

Dad loved strawberries!


"You know what that means don't you?"

I looked up at Blank as he continued, "That means a bird landed on his marker and took a shit." We shared more laughter at the bittersweet reality of how wild strawberries end up where they do.

We continued on to where his father rests, on the edge of a hill beneath a beautiful tree. It had been over a year since Blank visited.

"He loved trees and they added an extra plot just to ensure he was under one"

As he squatted down to clear away the grass clippings from the granite stone. I was happy I was there for him in such a meaningful moment. He looked up, "Sometimes you wonder, don't you? As good as our parents were, do we live up to their expectations?"