We spent the first 6 years of our life together, living by the ocean, first the Atlantic and then the Pacific and we were never happier than when we were close to Mother Ocean. We lived on the Outer Banks of our native North Carolina and we lived on the wild and isolated coast of Oregon, spending much of our time on the beaches. When we were by the ocean, no matter what the season, in all kinds of weather, from Atlantic hurricanes to Pacific winter storms with 100 knot winds, we were always awed by the beauty and power of the ocean when she was at her wildest.
In another month, it will be time for me to begin to fulfill my promise to the man I love. He told me the first month I knew him that when he died, he wanted a Viking funeral and asked me if I would do that for him. (Many times I have wondered whatever made him ask such a thing of someone he had only known for such a short time. Did he have an inkling of his destiny, even then? Now I think I know the answer but that is for me alone to ponder. Most people simple wouldn't get it.)
I thought about his request for a while and then I explained to him that I would do anything he asked of me but I wasn't sure that the "authorities" would take too kindly to me hauling his remains down to the beach and setting him adrift, especially if the vessel was on fire but I would try my damnedest to see that his send off would be as close as I could get to what he wanted. He agreed that would do nicely. We talked about that Viking funeral again, several times during the last 6 months of his life and I assured him again that I would honor his wishes.
As soon as the winds kick up in the fall, it will be time to take Dave's ashes and begin to scatter them to the Four Directions. It won't be a Viking funeral, but it is as close as I can come to honoring his request. I will also honor his belief in the medicine wheel, the Circle of Life. The Four Directions -North, South, East and West- all have strong meaning in Native American spirituality. They also had strong meaning for him.
"Among the People, a child's first Teaching is of the Four Great Powers of the Medicine Wheel. To the North is found Wisdom. The South is the place of Innocence and Trust. The West is the Looks-Within Place, which speaks to our introspective Nature. The East is the Place of Illumination, where we can see things clearly, far and wide. At birth, each of us is given a particular Beginning Place within these Four Great Directions. This Starting Place gives us our first way of perceiving things, which will then be our easiest and most natural way througout our lives. But any person who perceives from only one of these Four Great Directions will remain a partial man."
That quoted paragraph was taken from The Seven Arrows by Hyemeyohsts Storm, a book that Dave read at least several times. While I can't explain the whys for it here (much too complicated), he felt strongly that he had experienced something profound in places located in those four directions and so I will return him to those places. I will not be able to get to the West and South this season, so I will wait until next summer to complete my task. And then, with the exception of the tiny portion that will abide with his loved ones, the remains of his earthly body will rest in the arms of Mother Ocean. He will have come Full Circle. I know that he will rest well in those places and I will not deny him that rest.
