'A Message From Gavin and Sebastian'

After the ministers had finished speaking, Lisa and Will, Gavin and Sebastian's parents, released two white doves in honor of the boys. These two doves flew away into the distance. Then I, the boys maternal grandmother, and Carmen Rosado, the boy's paternal grandmother, released two more white doves. These two doves did not leave though, they flew to the trees above the tent where the two babies caskets were, and just sat there, looking down on us. While Lisa and I remained too overwraught with grief to do much more than just continue sitting under the tent looking at the two tiny white caskets, the two white doves flew down out of the tree and landed in front of us.

The dove actually walked around in front of Lisa for about 5 minutes and then left again. Jason, the friend and neighbor who had tried twice unsuccessfully to go through a window the night of that awful fire - in an attempt to save the children, was standing nearby when Lisa walked over to put her arm around him and comfort him. Since the fire, Jason had been very depressed and felt as though he had let everyone down. All of a sudden one of the white doves flew down and landed on Lisa's arm that was around Jason. Will, the children's father also walked over and the dove stayed there with the three of them for about 10 minutes.

It was then that the second white dove flew down from a tree above and landed on one of the caskets, and the one sitting on Lisa's arm that was around Jason's shoulder with Will next to him, flew over and landed on the other casket. Incredibly, the two white doves sat on Gavin and Sebastian's gaskets for about 30 minutes.

They alternately sat together on each casket, then would separate and sit separately on the two caskets, as all of us watched in amazement.

After a while, as everyone finally left little by little, the doves remained on the two little caskets. As everyone drove away from the cemetery, I looked over one more time as we drove out along the main road outside of the cemetery and the doves were still there. Even the workers who stay behind after everyone has left seemed to be in awe of what was happening, so much so that they seemed reluctant to do anything as long as the doves remained on the caskets.

All of us feel as though Gavin and Sebastian were somehow giving us a message, letting us know it was alright to let them go. That they were at peace and not to worry about them.

We will miss those little boys for the rest of our lives, they were our special little angels and we were given a gift for the short time we had them, but we left that day from the cemetery with smiles on our faces because we know in our hearts that those little white doves were letting us know that all was well.

Mardi Brenner
Maternal Grandmother

You decide!

Companion post at RosadoKids.org and Freedom's Zone