Yesterday we made a little Scout memorial.
Originally, I thought we'd scatter his ashes around the bend where he'd come bounding to greet me. The wild phlox is in season again, so all that's missing from the scene of my favorite photo is Scout. But then I began to worry that if we moved to a different house in the future, we'd be leaving some part of him here, so I decided to continue to keep his ashes on the altar. As Big A pointed out, that little space off the kitchen where the altar is really is where Scout spent a lot of time hanging out with me while I meditated, or he waited for me to finish my kitchen chores, or he hung out trying to convince me to give him pets or treats.
I went through a lot of memorial stones with words on them, but I knew even as I checked with Big A that he'd find them too cheesy/ersatz. So I went with a rainbow wind chime and a solar lantern, and we set those up yesterday. I think I'll add a laminated photo to the wind chime in a bit. It was comforting to have a space for our memories of Scout while indulging in nostalgia and family hugs. And when I took Max out for a potty break at midnight, the pretty, patterned light from the perforated lantern was a sweet and steadying presence.
Pic: Scout's memorial. In the background, today's picnic with EM and Nu.
7 comments:
We came to a different decision about this, at least for the long term.
We have three boxes with our three cats' ashes in them, dating all the way back to Emily, who died in 2002, on our mantel. When Xander's box arrived and I put it with the others I suddenly wondered, what will happen to these when Beth and I die? It didn't seem like the kind of thing the kids would necessarily want to inherit (though North might). So I talked to Beth about it and she said if/when we move out of this house, unless the kids object, we can bury all three boxes in the yard. Emily never lived here (she died a couple months before we moved here) but the other two lived their whole lives here so it seemed appropriate.
It's a very personal decision and your altar is lovely.
What a lovely way to celebrate Scout in a beautiful place.
I haven't yet had to deal with what to do with the ashes of a beloved pet, but I hope I'm as thoughtful about it as you are.
Farewell Scout.
StephLove--thank you; I can see now that we'll have to make the ashes decision someday too...
NGS--Thank you.
Gillian <3
Aw, I like the thought of him on the altar, near the action of the house. Dear Scout! This sounds like a very healing thing to do. xo
Oh so sweet!
<3 Thank you, Nicole and Sarah. (I would not have thought of myself as so Victorian in my mourning, but here we are.)
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