Today we said farewell to our wonderful Logan. We would like to share our tribute to him ...
On Saturday our collective hearts were torn apart. Our beautiful Logan ... you were such a part of our lives. as we gathered together to share our grief we began to list Logan's qualities ... happy, confident, enthusiastic, honest, polite, interesting, interested, confident in his own skin (whether he had clothes on or not) self assured, caring, sensitive, intuitive, empathetic ...
It was soon evident that words alone could not capture the essence that was Logan, you have to see his face. We tell the children that we have a rule at Botany Downs Kindergarten ... we only take the best kids! However, Logan was someone particularly special. Before long we were saying - hold on a minute, this is a four year old BOY we are talking about. What four year old boy has ALL these qualities? On the way here in the car we went some way to answering this question. This past week Kirsten and Dean have opened their hearts and their house to the whole community to grieve together. Kirsten and Dean, we know that Logan got these wonderful qualities from you.
Through our kindergarten blog we have learnt just how far Logan's friendship arm reached. So many have said that Logan was their child's first friend. These acts of kindness were not something we asked of him. It was something that just came naturally to him. What four year old gives more than they receive?
It seems that there were many young girls who were already planning their wedding to Logan. Logan never sought attention or credit for his random acts of kindness. This was just who he was.
Every day Logan would touch base with our children with special needs. He did have a wee fascination as to whether they had filled their nappies! We call that a scatalogical fascination ... a fascination with bodily functions! It seems he has now left that interest in his brother Dylan's capable hands!
Logan was a personality in our kindergarten- a positive, enthusiastic, gregarious child who never missed a thing. It was as though kindergarten was made for him. His love of sand and water stands above all else ... but he would give that up to bake, play a game or work with Steve, the builder. The only thing that we can ever recall growling at Logan for was sticking his finger up the hose! our collective vision recalled him standing in the middle of the floor, his clothes hanging off him with the weight of the water, a pool of water under him and a trail of water telling us where he had been. He would pop in to the cloakroom to change himself popping out every now and then to check if he was missing out on anything. He was comfortable in his own skin!
Dean and Kirsten shared how on the day before he passed away he was riding his bike in circuits around the outside of the house ... stark naked except for a pair of goggles that reduced his vision by 90%. we could just picture it! As we were coming in the chapel this morning Dean touched Logan's bike and said he felt the urge to ride the bike down the aisle. It was the naked bit that worried us!
So often Logan talked of his wonderful big sister Sophie. He thought that she was a good big sister.
Through our immense grief this week Logan continued to make us laugh, this time through our tears. Take a look at that face on your Logan badges. His face makes you smile and we can remember how his actions surpassed that. Perhaps this is Logan's way of helping to ease our pain that at this moment seems insurmountable. As the light pours through our skylight we will know that Logan is giving us strength.
All the children joined together to chant
Tahi, rua toru wha LOGAN
