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He finally came to the part
of the memorial that I thought was the important part. He
invited others to say what they wanted. To my amazement
Mom stood up. She told of when she first saw Michael and
Terry. First they showed her a little brown hair baby.
This was baby A. Then they showed her a little light hair
baby. This was baby B. Names weren't decided until later.
She told more than I can remember. I remember most that I
was so proud of her. She told about leaving the hospital
and first one baby was taken from her and then the other
and they wheeled her out of the hospital with out her
babies. She told of our Grandfather who sailed and was
called the Captain. And his son, our father, who he
called his bosun. And how now our father now had Michael
as his bosun. I think Terry was next. He told of how Michael was a perfectionist. How every thing had to be just right and that he had little tolerance for others that were not as good as he was. How he and Michael were to build a fence together but Michael kept taking over the work to do it right so Terry just stood back and let Michael build the fence. I think I was next. I told about the meaning of Mom's single rose and then I read my poem. Others spoke and it was a blur. Suddenly someone I had
never seen came to the front opening an envelope and
taking out a sheet of paper. He had been a friend of
Mikes at his work. He read to us from the sheet that was
signed by his friends at his work. Ollie spoke. Roger
spoke. Michael had been Roger's mentor and they had been
very close. Roger spoke eloquently about his big brother.
Among other things he talked of Michaels love of Coke
then he picked up the Coke can, popped it open, took a
drink and passed it into the audience. And at the end of
his speech he explained the frisbee hanging on the wall.
When Michael had his gallery, Michael, Steve and Roger
would play frisbee on their breaks. "Michael was a
frisbeetarian. They don't believe in heaven or hell. They
believe that when you die your soul just gets stuck up on
the roof." Then he threw the frisbee to Steve who
threw it back. Then Roger said "And now there is
someone new." Then he threw the frisbee to Michael's
son Joshua who then threw it back. I don't remember if
others spoke. Then the Chaplain finished with more talk,
the 23rd Psalm and a prayer. Diane then came up with her
daughter Sheila and talked of Michael. I wish I could The rest of the evening was of hugs, stories, tears, boisterous laughter of children playing pool in the back room. I met a woman who commissioned Michael to build her a recipe box and $20,000 later he had remodeled their house. The Chaplain said it was the most memorable memorial he had ever been to. So many people. So many stories. So much love. Candi took the girls back home but Robby wanted to stay. I thought it was to be with me but he seemed to spend his time playing with Adam and Joshua. Life goes on. Michael would have loved it. Finally everyone gone, everything put away and good-byes. Wednesday was overcast and chilly but no rain. Candi and I took the ferry over to Port Townsend, from Keystone, to meet with Ted and the others to spread Michael's ashes. There was a mix-up as where to meet and we were two hours late. Ted had to go back to work until 2:00 but would be back then. But no one was in a hurry. Michael had promised Joshua that they would get a sailboat and sail together in the Caribbean. Joshua still wanted to do that. Roger took a film can and I pried open the plastic box, opened the plastic bag and Roger scooped some ashes into the film can for Joshua to take with him to the Caribbean for that sail. |
