The Joshua Bush
A true story by:
Beckie Seamons Critchlow
On March 28, 1997, my son Jeff Seamons died in an automobile accident. One of his very best friends, Joshua, was suppose to be on that trip with him but had to work instead. Other than the immediate family and Tara, it seemed no one took Jeff's death harder than Joshua.
Josh and Jeff had become friends in 1994 when Josh moved here. Josh was tall, intelligent, beautiful and full of fun. They quickly became close friends. When Jeff died, Joshua was the first of his friends to come over. With him he brought some food, which he personally selected and purchased and a small yellow Mum plant. It seemed like he was always there, and we were so grateful to have him. He helped with some things that seemed to require more brain cells than Jenn (my daughter) and I could muster. Josh had stayed with us a for a while in high school and it always seemed natural for him to be there. As you can imagine, our house was filled with hundreds of kids over that long Easter weekend. Like us, each one wanted to share the "air" Jeff used to breath, to sit in his room one more time, read his poetry and collectively share Jeff memories. Josh helped us make that happen.
After the funeral, Jenn picked out certain plants to take home and plant outside. The very first was the yellow Mum Josh had brought. It had a place of honor in the flowerbed along the front walkway. After the initial yellow blooms fell off the plant began to grow and grow and grow. All the other Mums in the garden were a nice normal 12-15" tall. But Josh's Mum grew to be over FIVE feet tall!
Eight months later.........
Joshua was very upset and came over at midnight on November 19th.
He came for a hug. He was sitting on the sofa and crying into his hands and truly having a bad time of it. He kept insisting that he should have been with Jeff and saved him. Jenn explained that no one could have saved Jeff because the water was too cold and we may have lost Josh too. Jenn got him calmed down and ask that he spend the night. He insisted on going home. After walking Josh out to his car to make sure he was okay, Josh grabbed the small vial containing Jeff's ashes that hung from his rear view mirror and said, "Jeff will see me home".
The next morning we were informed that ten minutes after leaving our home, Josh's car hit a tree going about one hundred mph and Joshua was killed instantly. In what remained of Josh's car were found many of the pictures of Jeff we had shared, a copy of Jeff's book and one of Jeff's tie dyed shirts. Had he really been saying goodbye? I'd like to think Jeffrey was there waiting for Joshua who's heart had been broken so bad. I also thought it ironic that my Jenn's dog had died the same day Jeff did, within 2 hours, and Josh's dog had been with him and passed on too.
On the day of Josh's funeral Jenn ran in the house and said "mom you've got to see this"! I went out front with her and there was the 5 foot tall Joshua plant with full PURPLE blooms. We renamed it the Joshua Bush. We took turns having our picture taken next to it. Although I can't say for sure, I'd like to think that changing colors was a sign from Josh saying he's okay. When I moved from that house I took the Joshua Bush with me. Although it has never made it to Five feet again, it still remains the largest mum in my garden and I look forward to it's PURPLE blooms every year. It is a reminder of the kind and beautiful young treasure that I love and miss so much.
For Joshua
Page Created 4-7-03
