SHINING LIGHT
Kindness garden to commemorate life lost by suicide
Nikolai Miller was described as a shining light in a world that has gotten darker.
Miller, 15, died by suicide June 20, 2019. Now, his mother, Kris Miller, is honoring her son’s memory by offering kindness to the Waterford Township community through a rock garden.
“My son Nikolai was literally the kindest kid you’ve ever met,” Kris said. “He was inclusive of all people, joyful until he wasn’t. He was kind and respectful, and I wanted something to bring his light back into our world.”
Nikolai was diagnosed with ADHD and suffered from depression at the time of his death.
“In the end, the pain was just too much,” she said.
Kris began On A Dragonfly’s Wings — an online presence that started as way to express her grief and later flourished in educating people about mental health and suicide prevention.
Recently laid off from her job, she decided to focus entirely on the nonprofit organization, especially since mental health became more widely discussed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dragonflies spiritually are the movement from darkness into light,” she said. “Pretty quickly after my son passed, I started seeing dragonflies and I didn’t know the meaning behind them.”
Kris stumbled upon a kindness garden in northern Michigan in February 2020, when she visited the area after her grandmother died. She was inspired by the messages left at the site.
This past August Kris created a kindness garden in Waterford at Hess-Hathaway Park. A library buff, she also reached out to Joan Rogers, director at the Waterford Township Public Library, to discuss putting a kindness garden on the property. Rogers and other city officials agreed.
The rectangular garden includes rocks and plants, with a strolling pathway where people can walk through and pick rocks to their lik
ing. Individuals can write messages of hope and positivity on rocks and place them back in the garden, or can take rocks with messages written by others for themselves.
A small book house, similar to a Little Free Library, will stand next to the garden and contain mental health resources. Lowrie’s Landscaping, in Clarkston, donated about 2 tons of rocks for both gardens.
The grand opening of the garden at the library is from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29. Attendees Wednesday will receive paint and markers, sharing any messages they want. People can take rocks and even keep them for themselves.
“It’s kind of like an evolving garden,” Kris said. “There’s never going to be the same rocks in there all the time.”
The library is located at 5168 Civic Center Drive.