Waves

Yesterday morning I sat in the Center church in Phippsburg beside my step-father and listened to my family,extended family, old friends and strangers as they recalled the life of a man who had been an elder for all of mine. In a Quaker service we sat for over two hours and remembered him clearly as if he was sitting there with us and bid him fair well. Stories of him as he touched the lives of others: his children, his grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and life long friends. Students and people who's lives he had changed by simply being told stories that touched the soul. His granddaughter sang to him through her tears in a haunting beautiful voice.
The final was his wife, best friend and partner of sixty years speaking with love and directly from her heart.
There was not a dry eye in the place.

As we left the reception afterwards I walked back to the car with my daughters, one in arms, one held tightly by the hand. We walked down the drive and passed the space by the side of the road where the tide had brought the water in, the air hazy and sweet. The waves tumbled in to meet the rocky shore. He was there in every single heart, with his loving family, I am sure.

photo courtesy of the Brightwater Club, "Heather's photos"