“Little Bit”, You Are Loved

I’m one of those fellows who enjoys walking around to keep active. The Mall’s a nice setting, a real favorite. Taking walks around my neighborhood also works well. This time of year, not so much, but I do from time to time.

A while back I was walking up Lakeland Hills Blvd, only a block from my home, when I came across a tile which had had a bit of artwork perfectly wrapped around it. I picked it up from the grass where it lay and saw that it was a Memorial to a departed friend or loved one. It stopped me in my tracks.

Sadly, I found it among a lot of debris and trash. I want to stress that there was not one of those roadside Memorials anywhere in that vicinity. If there were, I would surely have noticed it as the site is only a block from my home and I drive by that corner several times each week.

As you see when you look at the banner photo above, it was–it is–a loving Memorial to Jenny Winters, the beloved friend, daughter or sister to someone who wanted to hold the memory of their departed friend close to their heart.

“Little Bit”, as they lovingly referred to their friend at the time of the creation of that tiny, lovely piece of art, would have been turning 34 today. But, sadly, she was taken from those who loved her in the summer of 2019, about a month before she would have celebrated her 27th Birthday.

It was in the Fall of 2024 that I happened to find the tile by the side of a busy road. Across from a car dealer and right beside a Church of Christ.

Now some have accused me of being a softie. A snowflake. Someone who is often overly-emotional. You know, if that were a crime and I ended up standing trial one day, I’m quite sure I’d be convicted.

Would you like a small piece of evidence that might put me in grave peril of being locked up? Well, I just can’t bring myself to throw away this little remembrance, this artful 4″ x 4″ tribute to Jenny. Jenny Winters, the daughter, sister, lover, partner, spouse or friend of someone with an artist’s eye and hand.

I know nothing about her except when she made her debut in this world of of joys, sorrows, bliss, delight, heartbreak and horror. Well, and I know she transitioned out of this life on a warm Friday in early July, not quite 27 years later.

And I do know that she was loved. And I am the Guardian of one small token of that genuine, heartfelt love. I would and will surrender it to the friend or family member who created it. Or to anyone who knew and loved her, if they should ask.

But unless and until that should happen, this sweet Memorial will go on living on the top of my dresser, as it has since I came across it on that Autumn afternoon.

“Bulldog Ben” Basile

© 2026 Ben Lawrence Basile