Sunday, October 5, 2008

Burial @ Sea....

I know I've been a little M.I.A. Ok, we both have been a little M.I.A. Life can really get tough sometimes and it takes the little things to remind us that it aint so bad. My grandmother died in March and we delayed the burial because she wanted her ashes scattered into the ocean. Seeing as her birthday is October 2nd, we decided that it would be a perfect time to charter a boat, gather the entire fam (from Louisiana to Guatemala....I kid you not) and put Grandma to rest. We all congregated on California's central coast, including her 4 children and their 2 spouses, 4 grandchildren and their 2 spouses, and 9 great-grandchildren and boarded a boat to the open water. We brought Grandma in her beautiful urn....actually she was in a thick plastic bag in the urn and a lot of flowers to accompany the ashes. When we were safely 3 miles out (we don't want Grandma ending up in the drinking water) the boat stopped and people began to share stories and thoughts about our Grandma. It was nice and touching and the sun peaked out of the fog....very picturesque. When we were done it was time for my mom to scatter the ashes and we started to throw the flowers into the water and say our individual goodbyes. When she was sufficiently memorialized the boat started again and the captain drove the boat in a circle 3 times to draw the ashes and flowers together and mark the space where she would rest. I stood on the back of the boat with my mom and my dad, my brother and my boys and we all cried....and then halfway through the second turn around the burial site, a seagull landed in the middle of the flowers and ashes. It was hilarious. This oblivious little bird landed right on the middle of our beloved grandmother's ashes and looked at us like we were crazy. It made us all laugh as we circled this sacred spot watching the seagull watch us and as we pulled away from the spot, the bird flew out of the water and in the opposite direction. Life is funny that way sometimes....one person's holy ground is another creature's pit stop.

**The Long of It**

1 comment:

Ryter said...

Wow.....and we just dumped our Grandma on the ground at a local cemetary. Figured the time we spent together as a family on the evening of the day she died was a fitting memorial. She LOVED it when we were all together, talking, laughing and eating.