A couple of months after Josh died, Dad, Ron and some of Josh's mates built a memorial garden in our yard. His mates bought a beautiful Lilly-Pilly which we planted in the garden. To honour the occasion, Natalie Warn, Josh's cousin, wrote this moving tribute.
Dear Josh,
I dreamt about you the other night. There you were larger than life, joking around. I said "What are you doing, you're not supposed to be here?" You turned, looked directly at me and smiled lop-sidedly. I was glad that you told me you were OK and happy, but it didn't stop the crying that woke me up.
You see, by leaving, you've created this big hole, an emptiness. It just sits there and every now and again each one of us stumbles in it, gets lost in the darkness and starts asking the question, Why? Then we realise that we're not to dwell there and have to climb out to face reality.
Memories and thoughts of you don't quite fill it in and we gather and try to bring you closer to us. I guess that we will gather on numerous occasions in your memory, a touching of diverse lives and people. And so it is that if you never chose to be born in our life-time we would never have been blessed with what you gave so freely.
Today we're filling this hole with new growth. A tree that will bear your name and represent a meeting point of yours and our souls. We had to give you back to Mother Earth, and we ask that Mother Earth nourish this tree, give it life, so that as we sit in its shade we can remember our Josh.
Here is to you and the "Joshua Tree".