For anyone who doesn't know my family well, this
might seem like a strange tale...For those who do know us, it's just another
"business as usual" story. We are a family of artists, writers, and musicians,
sprinkled with a little Addams family vibe and an appreciation of subtle
humor. One thing is for sure...We love and
respect one another deeply and always try to do the very best to make each
other's lives as pleasant as possible.
We share some of the same traits or idiosyncrasies, nothing terribly weird, just, we like to sit in the aisle seat at theaters, preferably the back row. We like to be alone at times to reflect on the beauty of nature and embrace the calm. We love holidays and always make a big deal of them and we don't disbelieve in the hereafter and the presence of our departed loved ones still being close to us as we go about our daily lives.
My mom was a flower child before the time when they were popular. She was gentle, highly intelligent, creative, talented,loving,and cool. A modern day wood nymph.
She left this earthly plane on August 5, 1981. I wanted to have her buried in a setting befitting her personality. The problem was, at the time, I was short of funds...I picked out a very nice cemetery near where we lived so I could visit often. There were some lovely available spots but they were out of my price range. I had to settle for a spot that I could afford, which I knew my mother would have hated, but I had no choice at the time.
I felt so guilty leaving her there, crowded among strangers, in the middle of the shadeless park, when I knew how much she disliked being in the sun. She was a redhead and avoided the sun at all costs. I promised her that day, that I would do what ever I could to get her some shade.
Several years later when my finances had improved, I decided to have mom moved to one of those beautiful spots I couldn't afford before. It was right next to a little woodsy park like area..It was the aisle seat with trees and shade and no one else between her and the lovely lush natural woodsy area, so her spirit could cavort with the sprites on a moonlit night.
On Halloween day 1987, a small group of family members gathered at the cemetery with a few seasonal refreshments, and witnessed the moving of my mother from the one spot I knew she would have hated to another that I knew she would have loved. We gave thanks for being able to do one last thing for mom that we felt she would have thought was the coolest thing ever. We cried and reminisced about the wonderful former Halloweens we had all spent together and we talked about this day being one we would never forget, and then we smiled.
