I was amiss when I first made the posting not to add information about how the garden came into being.
Marilyn worked for 25 years in an early intervention program in Mass. for children from birth to 3 years old. Some had premature birth requirements, some had physical needs, others families were facing life changing situations such as neurological problems.
Marilyn job was as a "developmental educator" and she worked with both the child and the family. Needless to say in this area you have successes and you have failures. In either case although you try it is very difficult not to become attached to these young lives.
One family had a beautiful baby girl who they named Erin. It wasn't long after her birth that it was found that something wasn't quite right with Erin. Testing revealed that at 8 months she had developed an inoperable brain tumor. Erin became part of Marilyn 's life through work. Everyone knew what was going to happen, just not when. Just before her 5th birthday Erin went to be with the Lord. In her brief life she had touched so many people with her brave struggle. Erin's favorite color was pink. Marilyn created "Erin,s garden" with all pink flowers and plants in tribute to both her and her family. Marilyn continued the garden when we moved to Maine.
The healing part of this story is that the Early Invention program help her 7yr. old brother, Jack to better understand and deal with the loss of his sister. Also the mom also used her experience to deal with the loss and also became an employee and worked with other families that were dealing with loss.
So any time you see flowers from Erin's garden you'll know that her memory is still alive'
Chuck