Dust

We lost a friend of our family this weekend. Ironically, there was an 80th birthday open house scheduled on the day that she passed away.

Randy had known her since he was two years old. He was extremely close to her. Every Christmas my boys would hang her outside Christmas lights and Abe would decorate her tree. She loved to cook for us and she even made me gluten free lasagna. I will miss walking over to chat and seeing her red VW bug buzz by our house.

At the request of her family, Randy made the box for her ashes. They wanted one just like he had made for their dad a few years ago. Randy spent all day Friday on his little project. Late in the afternoon Abe came into the kitchen and told me that "Dad was almost finished with the box for Barbara's dust because she wasn't going to make it much longer." We had been to visit her earlier in the day and I guess he heard Randy and I talking on the way home.

Tonight, he asked us if WE were going to bury Barbara since we still had the box in our garage. I imagined him thinking she would be underneath the tree by his sandbox. We tried to explain everything so that he would understand but honestly, he really can't comprehend the cremation. The box. The ashes.

Before bed he said, "I sure wish Barbara hadn't decided to leave so soon. I'm really going to miss her. I loved going to her house."

Me, too.