"I've never felt a pain that didn't bear a blessing."
~ Gene Knudson Hoffman
My sisters & I shared a week together last Fall spreading the ashes of our Mother & Father throughout Arizona and Colorado; specifically at all the favorite places of their life together.
It was a beautiful sojourn beginning at Phoenix Jr College, their home in Scottsdale, the desert where our Mother walked, and ending in Sedona ~ a truly sacred place of vortex, healing energy, and sweet memories of our parents and times shared together there.
Then on to Boulder CO ~ CU campus where our parents met, fell in love and began their 62 years together. We continued to share Mom & Dad's ashes throughout Colorado; at the Genesee overlook where Mother received Dad's fraternity pin, the river path in Avon and the Walking Mountains Science Center where a stone plaque honors our Mom. We ate at all our favorite restaurants and even found a lovely book store in Edwards, that welcomed us home.
There were some tears for each of us, yet being together, honoring our parents in this way, softened the reality of our loss and nurtured the gratitude and love we have for each other. How very blessed we were to be able to suspend our daily lives in order to focus on the life gifts of our parents.
Recently, we took the last of Mom's ashes back to her home town of Oregon, Illinois. Growing up, we girls rode the train overnight with Mother, to visit our grandparents, Aunt & Uncle and cousins. We stayed for weeks during the summer and learned about lightning bugs, the melancholy song of the Whippoorwill, and humidity.
We stayed at a bed & breakfast and took Mom for one last time to the places of our favorite memories; Lowden State Park, with the statue of Chief Blackhawk and White Pines Park where the river flows over the road and they serve family style breakfast in the lodge on Sundays.
Spending time with our Uncle and Cousins made for a bittersweet visit; fanning the joy of our memories and at the same time, allowing our grief to breathe renewed. . .
For me, completing the "LeSue Ash Tour" brought new understanding and acceptance of the cycle of Life. By honoring and letting go of the physical elements of my parents,
I was freed to embrace a new and everlasting bond.
For that blessing, I am truly Grateful.