My wife's sister-in-law passed away from pancreatic cancer recently and her husband (my wife's brother) was holding a Celebration of Life to memorilize his wife. It was held in a small town near their home on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. I've never attended such a celebration but this was quite interesting. She was a poet so various people read their favorites from her poems. It was quite a fitting sendoff. Of course having someone close to you die of such a terrible disease is really quite awful. In her case it was especially nasty because originally there was hope that it was operable and in the end it was not.
The ceremony did lead me to think about what I am doing with my life and I believe I'll be making some changes to give more back to our community. I was thinking that if it were a celebration of my life it would only be family members attending. I need to do more.
Because of the sadness of the occasion I didn't bother trying to take photos but there were sure some opportunities! That part of the world is both beautiful and depressing at the same time. Locally it is called Washington's Banana Belt. Well, you could have fooled us! Rain, mist, cloud and just plain wet was the order of the day. You fly into Seattle then drive about 3 hours so that pretty much takes a day. Coming home is another day. So on a 5 day trip you spend 3 with the people you've come to see. Yeah, I guess you could compress it if you wanted but I'm over 70 and don't want 12 or 14 hour days.
Now it seems as though things will settle down for a bit. We have no travels planned so anything that comes along will be a surprise. Right now the things on my calendar are getting lab work done and my annual visit with the doctor. Talk about hot stuff!
So this is what Washington looks like in good weather. This was taken July of last year on the Washington shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Thanks for stopping by!
1 comment:
It is good that you were able to attend! And you were so near us!
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