Thursday, June 12, 2025

23 - Dead In Box

By Kay Heitsch

This may sound very strange to some, but I took a picture of Todd in the casket. I don't know if I was trying to come to grips with the reality that Todd was dead or what.
Brandon, who was under 3 years old, was still missing Todd. I had not taken him to the funeral home. When I look back, I should have taken him. A friend volunteered to watch Brandon, and I accepted their offer. It seemed right at the time.
I developed the pictures and showed Brandon the picture of Todd in the casket. I told him Todd had died and he wasn't coming home. It broke my heart.
Every day, Brandon would take out the photo album. He would open the album and say, "Todd dead in the box." He would then flip the album pages over and look at pictures of Todd and himself together, and give me a smile.
Brandon flipped the pages of this album so often that he ripped the plastic pages.
We were all trying to adjust to Todd not coming home.

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