A group of Adam's friends hiked with us to Cliff Tops on top of Mount LeConte in the Smoky Mountains on August 1.  This is the site where we scattered Adam's ashes, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  I brought along some airsoft pellets (biodegradable, of course), and we took handfuls of the pellets and tossed them out into the void for Adam, talking and laughing and telling stories about airsoft battles, xbox, snowstorms in Lake Arrowhead, etc.  We were not alone out on the rocks, there were a few other people.  Suddenly, one of the other hikers on the other side of the rocks stands up and shouts "ADAM!!!!" out into the mountains.  We all stared at him, open mouthed, while a voice way down  from the trail below replies "Yeah!"  The hiker explained he was yelling to his friend, who was hiking up from Alum Cave on the trail beneath us.  :)

I come across lots of memes/images regarding loss of a child or a loved one through various online support groups and websites I am a part of.  I like this one with the stars because it reminds me of watching shooting stars with Adam at our house in Lake Arrowhead-- great location, high elevation, no streetlights, nothing but starry sky.  In December of 2012, just two months before he died, Adam and I took blankets and pillows outside and laid in the driveway to watch the Geminids meteor shower.  I asked him if he remembered doing this when he was around 4, when he and I went out in the driveway at 4 a.m. (Amanda was an infant, so I was awake a lot in the middle of the night).  He thought carefully, then his face brightened.  "Yeah!  We were right over there."  I think it was a Leonid shower that year, 2001, and it was one of the best ones ever.  I was so happy he remembered it. 

The Geminids in December were a little sparse, but we did see a huge one that looked like it must have hit Great Festival Park in the middle of Arrowhead.  I remember thinking at the time how lucky I was that my teenage son would hang out with his mom and watch the stars (even if he did later admit he was looking for reasons to delay working on a project for Spanish 3....).  

I love you and miss you, Adam.  Keep an eye on those stars for me.

The charms I chose for Adam:  red and black crystals (his favorite colors);  a guitar for his Rock Band skills; an airplane for his travels around the world; sand dollar because he loved the beach; a football,for all the games we went to (high school and college); Coke bottle, his daily beverage of choice. Still bummed i couldn't find a martial arts charm!  
Cool story about my Adam locket-- it's Origami Owl and Mike brought me a catalog back in February, he wanted me to order a locket for Valentine's Day (I had told him about the memory lockets you can create). I sat down and picked out the charms that reminded me most of Adam (all the ones in the picture), but never actually ordered it. This was during the big snowstorm that shut down school for a week. While at home, I kept seeing a cardinal in the rhododendron in front of the windows; I was always so excited to see it, and finally got a good photo of the bright red bird in the snow, which I posted online with some other snow photos. I didn't know the symbolism of a cardinal until several people sent me messages on FB (a cardinal represents a vist from loved one who has passed).  So a friend of mine has an Owl party in July, I didn't go but I called the sales lady and placed my order. I quickly ran down the list of what I wanted; they had retired the coke bottle but she said she had a sample one and would sell me that one. She didn't know me and didn't know what the locket was about.  A couple days later, I get an email about my order that lists all the charms. There was a Cardinal charm on the order!  My friend who had the party asked the sales rep about the cardinal that I had not ordered but was on the form.  She said she had to order an extra charm since she was subbing out the coke bottle from her own stock, so she just picked a charm at random.  Hello, Adam.... Just one of many ways he seems to "stay in touch" with me.  <3