Living It With Lisa

Did you know that the average person has 1000 digital images on their computer, which is the equivalent of 3-4 years of photos.   Savannah took a photo of Austin everyday of his life except two.  When we put them all on my computer there were 822  from their collection!  Then you add my photos and the grandparents photos which we are still compiling … wow!   Thank YOU Savannah and Tyler for giving us exceptional digital moments of Austin.

The last 6 days have been the longest in my life.

On Monday, Tyler’s 30th birthday I received a frantic call from him that Austin was on the way to the hospital.

He had quit breathing and his body was cold.  After 90 minutes they let Tyler and Savannah know that their baby,  our beloved grandson, Austin Tyler Johnson was gone.

An autopsy was done and they found no foul play , just a healthy baby boy.  SIDS was the official cause of death.

We buried little Austin Tyler Johnson on Friday, February 20th.  The family had a special send off for his big brother Dylan on Saturday morning at the gravesite with all the beautiful flowers surrounding Austin’s physical resting place.  Brother Larry knelt down and spoke directly to Dylan, he then read a note that Dylan had written to Austin.  He asked if Dylan would like to write a message on a balloon and send it to heaven.  Dylan nodded yes.  The first balloon the Dylan tried to write on broke as it touched the grass.  I watched as Dylan wrote, “I will remember you all ways” and colored in a big red heart on a white balloon. Tyler and Savannah signed that balloon too.

We all passed 3 other balloons around and wrote notes.  Brother Larry was wise in letting Dylan know that sometimes the balloons would get caught in the trees or break on the way up into the sky, but it didn’t matter because Austin knew what we were writing and he would get our love notes.

We then released the balloons and watched them make their way to heaven.   The interesting thing was that the wind was blustering that day and there was a big tree, void of leaves near the gravesite.   As we released the balloons, the first one which was Dylan’s headed straight for the tree, followed by the remaining three.  We all held our breath just waiting for all 4 balloons to pop.

Not one balloon popped!  Each one touched the tree and got caught in the branches and wiggled its way free to soar!  Clapping and cheering from all as we watched them fly to the heavens.  Those balloons were very symbolic on many levels.  No matter what seems impossible, we can make it thru and thrive.

We watched until we couldn’t see the balloons anymore.

Austin Tyler Johnson would have been 3 months old the day we sent our love on balloons that followed him to heaven.

You didn’t have time to make fingerprints on the wall, instead you made footprints on our hearts.  Yes Dylan, we will always remember Austin.

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