Art by by Josie, Silje S., Lina K., Masa P., Sofia J., Maddie W., Danielle L., Emily L., Sophia B., René W., and Trinity
Text by Frank Cruz, Zachary's Father
In the first summer after Zachary died, 2009, the principal of his school came to visit our house one day. It was, of course, very hard in those early days, for us and our visitors. Principal Wilson held in her hands a gift: several large baskets. Inside the baskets we found a note from a 5th grader who attended school with our son.
June 12, 2009
Dear Zachary Cruz's Family,
These baskets are filled with 1000 paper cranes, that my friends and I made. The story of the 1000 paper cranes is that if someone is sick they make 1000 paper cranes and they will get better. Even though Zachary is no longer with us my friends and I thought it would be a nice idea to give you 1000 paper cranes. With these cranes you can make a wish to where Zachary will go. I want you to know that my friends: Silje S., Lina K., Masa P., Sofia J., Maddie W., Danielle L., Emily L., Sophia B., René W., and Trinity helped me. Although Zachary is no longer physically with us, he is always in our hearts.
Sincerely,
Josie
I wonder if Josie and all those other kids knew how much their gift of 1,000 paper cranes would mean to us? We moved the cranes to several large glass vases and their colorful, playful, beautiful presence continues to decorate our home to this day, along with her note. She was right, Zachary was gone. But she was also right about another thing. Someone was sick. It was me, sick with grief and anger and sadness. Thinking of it now, it seems to me that Josie's paper cranes were one of the things that helped me, with time, to get better.
