Letting go

Today we let Maggie go. We took her ashes and spread them in a place she loved and she can be part of the wind and the flowers and the whole world. I know there are many different ways to handle these things, and I also know this was the right way for Maggie.

It was a hard thing to think about doing, and I've done nothing but think about it all week. I found a couple of poems to read and cried all the way through as I read both aloud. Strangely enough, once we actually started taking turns spreading her remains around, it wasn't difficult at all.

Maggie is free. She has been free since February and today was only symbolic of that; but it was a very meaningful symbol for all of us. We know she's out there. She is everywhere.

 And that makes me feel just a tiny bit better.

Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight. 

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there. I did not die. 

Mary Elizabeth Frye 

1932