Calendar Girl Blog: A Mother's Gift
How do you say good bye to your mother?
And how do you share that farewell with people, who themselves have been gathered, slowly, randomly, over decades by a woman who's life span 75 years and two continents? A woman who requested no grave and no funeral home.
A woman who loved the wind.
About 100 of us settled under the rustic open walled pavilion, on the edge of the forest, by the small lake. Children of all ages and dogs of many sizes brushed through the crowd. Her daughter Stephanie and her son Doug, carried the blue and white, Chinese urn, filled with their mother's ashes to the picnic table under the mature maple. Leaves danced in delight.
Yes, the wind was in full attendance.
The slide show, lovingly complied, danced slowly on the screen to the piano accompaniment. It was then that I got to know my friends mother. The images revealed the life of a baby girl, young child, teenager, woman, wife, mother, grandmother in a beautiful flow of poise and gracefulness.
Life, when viewed in it's full span reveals much more depth of character than a simple meeting ever offers.
I could see my friend Stephanie in her mother's smile.
Later, much later, as we few, Stephanie, her husband Jeff, dear friends Mark, Chris and Val supped on Thai food and cold beer on my deck, the sky turned dark and the wind fell quite. Hella's lovely Urn sat on the candle lit table along side my small sandstone Urn, filled with my beloved dog Stew.
We laughed easily and often. And we agreed that we had all just shared a wonderful day together.
Calendar Girl
And how do you share that farewell with people, who themselves have been gathered, slowly, randomly, over decades by a woman who's life span 75 years and two continents? A woman who requested no grave and no funeral home.
A woman who loved the wind.
About 100 of us settled under the rustic open walled pavilion, on the edge of the forest, by the small lake. Children of all ages and dogs of many sizes brushed through the crowd. Her daughter Stephanie and her son Doug, carried the blue and white, Chinese urn, filled with their mother's ashes to the picnic table under the mature maple. Leaves danced in delight.
Yes, the wind was in full attendance.
The slide show, lovingly complied, danced slowly on the screen to the piano accompaniment. It was then that I got to know my friends mother. The images revealed the life of a baby girl, young child, teenager, woman, wife, mother, grandmother in a beautiful flow of poise and gracefulness.
Life, when viewed in it's full span reveals much more depth of character than a simple meeting ever offers.
I could see my friend Stephanie in her mother's smile.
Later, much later, as we few, Stephanie, her husband Jeff, dear friends Mark, Chris and Val supped on Thai food and cold beer on my deck, the sky turned dark and the wind fell quite. Hella's lovely Urn sat on the candle lit table along side my small sandstone Urn, filled with my beloved dog Stew.
We laughed easily and often. And we agreed that we had all just shared a wonderful day together.
Calendar Girl
posted by Sue Richards at 12:28 PM
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