May 24, 2025
“Remember me when I am gone away, gone far away into the silent land.”
—Christina Rossetti
Whenever Joe was driving north on Route 114 through Woodbridge, he always came upon a roadside memorial with a cross adorned with flowers, flags and decorations, right by the side of the highway, and he knew it was there that someone had driven off the road and been killed. There were even marks that seemed to show the path the vehicle had followed.
The curious thing is that over the months, the decorations around the cross changed, always with fresh flowers, and on national holidays like Memorial Day and Fourth of July, flags and other patriotic symbols appeared. Someone who lost someone they loved took good care of the roadside shrine.
After doing some internet research, he discovered that it was, indeed, a fatal car accident. When the vehicle hit the trees, the young man who was driving home to his mother’s house, only two miles away, was ejected from the car.
There were other roadside memorials he regularly came upon in Trumbull on Route 25, and in Derby and other towns where people had died in accidents. All of them were kept clean and well-tended with flowers and decorations by anonymous people who had lost someone.
It was almost, he surmised, like the practice his family observed when he was a child of visiting St. Michael Cemetery in Stratford every Sunday to say a few prayers over the graves of his grandparents, aunts and uncles.
***
Remembering the loved ones who were lost is a healing tradition of the living.
Sign Up for Healing Journey Messages
Receive a daily message to your email address.