Where The Spirit Is

We buried the Belle in a small cemetery in Petal, MS. Many of her family members are buried there and Hangdog plans to be buried next to her. We will probably not make it to Petal on any kind of a regular basis but we respect their wishes.

I think the spirit is everywhere. It's in the places that are/were important to them. I am not one of those people who takes flowers and visits the grave site. There's nothing wrong with that but I prefer to honor those I've lost in the places that hold memories.

When my friend Patsy died, I was a pallbearer. I have never been back to her grave. But there's a bench (with her name and a quote) in the garden of the golf course she loved. It was a send-off gift from the girlfriends. I go there and speak to her. I feel her spirit and I relish the memories.

Another friend of ours died in a car accident a few years ago. The husband and I both wave when we drive by the site but I'm more reflective when I open the liquor cabinet and see his favorite rum. No one drinks it and no one ever will but I can't throw it away. I toast him and get lost in the past for a bit. I miss him and his spirit. He was a weird duck but as the husband says, "He was OUR weird duck."

Hangdog has lost his spirit. I don't know how to help. His spirit went with the Belle.