One of my FAVORITE summer *rituals* is my morning *bath* in the river.
When we're at the cabin, Dave and I (and often Jake, too) will get up, do our running/walking, yoga, etc... Sometimes we'll run/walk, bike and kayak for our morning exercise!
And then we'll head to the river for our bath.
Being in the river so early in the morning is the most refreshing way to start the day. The color of the water at that hou is like liquid pewter, especially with the sun reflecting off of it. Even if the water is cold (like it was today...but most days it's not...usually it's warmer than the morning air), our bodies are retaining heat from our exercise, and it's refreshing and invigorating and a wonderful, personal jacuzzi, the way it flows over you (oh, how I LOVE flow...and living on a flowing river in the summer is so beautifully representative of how we live in the flow of our lives EVERY day...).
Here is Dave returning from our morning bath...
. . . .
Today, our river day was dedicated to unschooling Mom and amazing human being, Diana Jenner and her daughter, Hannah. Hannah passed on much too early for those who love her and who were left on earth.
Last year at the Live and Learn Conference, Diana gave me a precious gift: some of Hannah's ashes.
Those ashes have sat on my dresser for almost a year. I have looked at them every day, touched them often, and each time, I would send My Love to Hannah, Diana, Hayden, and all of the Mommas and Babes of the world.
But with the conference coming up again very quickly, I was feeling like it was time to do what was originally intended with Hannah's ashes...to release them...let go...and trust in the cycles of life and the glory of the Universe.
It was time.
And I knew exactly what I needed to do with them.
Our river is a huge part of Who We Are. I knew that this was where I needed to release my *ownership* of this small part of Hannah.
At our hot-dog cooking and swimming stop on the river, I told Jake and Sam and Dave that I was building an altar on which to put Hannah's ashes. From our river cabin, I had brought a river rock that I had painted gold, and some of our favorite pieces of riverglass that we found this year (riverglass seems to be in shortage...so it's ALL that we have found this year!).
As I looked around for a big rock on which to put my items, and as I searched for other *Hannah Treasures*, I looked up and saw what was going on: Dave had already built a little stone altar. He found a big rock, and around it, he had built a beautiful, creative river rock sculpture. Jake and Sam were off looking for their own treasures to add to the altar, and returned with beautiful rocks and flowers that they loved, and that they felt would truly celebrate Hannah.
It was a beautiful thing to behold.
And so I placed Hannah's ashes on top of my gold rock, and we all admired our work, had a moment of silence to Honor Hannah. And then I said a little prayer for the earth and for love and for life and for leaving the earth and moving on and for moms and babies and dads and lovers and newborns and old people and for everyone in between. I released this small part of Hannah into the Universe's glorious vibrations and felt so good that she was, as we all are, a part of the earth, of the river, of the birds and the bees and the trees and the moon and the stars and the light and the Love.
And all is well.
(Dave felt it was important for me to get a shot of the altar with the river in the background...)
Dave:
After one of THE most beautiful days on the river (and we have so many...EACH day is amazing and beautiful and oh-so-joyful...so I will not compare them at all...but this day definitely was especially Hannah-blessed), we quickly cleaned our river cabin to return home and have our first dinner on our new deck, christened with champagne (we are NEVER without an abundant supply of celebratory champagne!).
Anne:
Jake:
All IS truly well.
