Granger Smith’s Family Received Priceless Treasure From Their Former Home After Death of Son

When Granger Smith and his wife, Amber, lost their 3-year-old son, River, in a drowning accident last June, they grieved the many, many milestones their youngest child will never hit. But now, thanks to the generous family who bought the Smith’s former home, the couple has a special memento of River: his growth chart, which the family painstakingly detached to give to the Smiths.

“We were just given such a special gift,” Amber shared on social media, along with a photo of the growth chart of all three children, including London and Lincoln. “We knew when we sold our home that we sold it to a wonderful family. I took photos of these growth measurements before we moved out. I thought the new owners would just paint over them and I wanted the memory. The sweet owners just dropped these off with Granger.

“They took the time to take them carefully off the garage wall and bring them to us so we would have them,” she continued. “2 years and 11 months was the last time we measured Riv. 3 months later we moved. Grateful for kind, thoughtful people, and treasures I thought were gone… And I’m really missing my little Valentine hunk.”

The Smiths made the painful decision to sell their former home and relocate, after the memories surrounding the home became too painful.

“I absolutely loved our house, where we lived,” Smith said a video posted on YouTube. “Amber and I both thought that it was our house that we would stay in for a long, long time. But after the accident with River, it changed the way we felt there. There was a lot of – thousands of really good memories and one really bad one. We’d go back and forth because River loved those woods and those fields, and that was his land. But my number one priority is the well-being of the other two kids, and I don’t think I was totally myself at the old house. Amber probably wasn’t either.

“We’re a family of faith, so we prayed about it, and I felt very compelled to make this move,” he continued. “We were able to sell quickly. Great family coming in; I feel so good about this family. I feel like this is God’s plan, and it’s hard to say that, because I can’t understand this plan, but it does feel like there are pieces of it that make a lot of sense, and this family is one of them. We’re handing over the keys to them, and hopefully we’ll be able to go back and build a bonfire.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Rick Kern