Tragedy at winter quarters

There is a sculpture by Avard Fairbanks depicting a husband and wife burying their child.  It is entitled "Tragedy at Winter Quarters." It is in memory of so many pioneer parents that had to leave a child behind during their journey to a safer place.  It shows them standing over a grave, with a shovel in hand; showing us that they had to dig the grave themselves.  They are looking longingly into the shallow grave.  The back of the statue shows roots extending from the ground up to the legs and back of the parents...suggesting that the roots could pull them down to the grave as well.  I could not imagine doing what they did; walking away from a grave that you dug yourself.  I think I might have laid down next to my child and died there.  It would seem like the most logical thing to do at that moment.  I'm not sure if I would be strong enough to walk away.   I thought this image was poignant.

"The death of a parent is considered a loss of our past while the death of a spouse constitutes the loss of our present.  The death of a child represents the loss of the hopes and dreams for our future."
-Joyce and Dennis Ashton

It is hard to bury your past, at times.  It is hard to bury your present.  I don't really know much about that. But it is backwards to bury your future.  It isn't right.  We want to hope for the future and trust in the great things that lie ahead.  How do you bury something that hasn't even happened yet. It seems impossible.  But, when your child dies, that is exactly what you have to do. When you have to say goodbye to someone that you barely said hello to, it makes it hard to go forward.