Photo credit:

“I held her purse and tried to think of a way to be useful. And about the only way I have found is to write down what happened after Erika died — to show the hold she retains on the living, the lasting nature of those bonds between mother and daughter…Sometimes her friends leave small stones or trinkets at the headstone, perhaps to show Erika they were there, to show that they remember the girl with the long black hair and the pretty brown eyes who once held so much promise for herself, her  family and her world.”