Ash Internment

This is a double ash post.  It was the ash internment for Ann Sedgwick Hartley (ASH).  Wow, a lot of death related posts recently.

But this event came off great; everybody felt really good about it.  Dennis and Ann had discussed the Ash Garden at the Langley cemetery but no arrangements had been made.  We had the ashes; Dennis didn't know what to do.  But decided to go forward with the ash garden.  His brothers suggested they make a day of it in the summer (that would be now).  Family would go to Whidbey Island and spend the day.  So that's what we did.  I suggested that we go have pizza afterwards at the local pizza place everybody likes (we went there with Ann) paid for by the estate.  So a plan.

We had Aunts Jenny and Emily come to our place and we took them with us up to Mukilteo across the ferry and to Langley.  Dave, Loreen, Bryan, Krystal, Matt with children Hannah and Timothy cane.  Another relative John H came plus some of Ann's friends from Langley.  None of my local kids came, all working though they all went to the church memorial.

The ash garden was pretty unstructured, it's just really a undeveloped section of woods.  We wouldn't have even known where it was if there hadn't been people before us.  So Dennis dug a hole near a bench and put the ashes inside it (pictured with Ann's great granddaughter Hannah).  Then we all took a trowel and covered up the hole.  Then we went out to the open space and had a little ceremony.  And took a picture which I hope to get later from Krystal.  Krystal read two eulogies that got left off of the memorial; Matt led a prayer, Dennis and I read part of the Kaddush,  As we were doing this, a beautiful yellow butterfly flew through us.  Yes, I think that was Ann!  Total of 14 people.  Very satisfying.

Then most of us went off and ate a lot of pizza, hung around a bit and came home.

Took all day but everybody agreed that it came off beautifully.