The sky lanterns I ordered came today. I wanted something to do on Ben’s due date. Something beautiful to send out into the world to help commemorate and celebrate his life. The lovely, talented and heartbroken Vera Kate posted this video on her blog and I fell in love. I won’t have thousands, but I will have something to send off into the sky.
Ada helped me open the packaging. She’s a big fan of using her scissors whenever possible. Her face lit up at the colorful paper and she asked what they were for. As I started to answer, my voice caught and tears spilled. She crawled into my lap and I pulled her close, explaining that had he lived, he was to be born next week and we will light the lanterns to celebrate the magnificence of his spirit and his too-short life.
Beautiful idea!
I’ve been thinking what to do myself for all 4 of you on the 25th and I’ll burn some incence at my Buddha statue for Ben. The sticks are on my desk while I count the days with you.
Oh. I so wish that I could be there, to celebrate magnificence with you.
what a marvelous and meaningful idea. sugar, with every post, your courage and creativity and commitment to love shine through. it takes a lot of all those things to straddle multiple worlds of emotion with grace, to keep putting one foot in front of the other. xo
p.s. though the entire post made me smile, i laughed right out loud when i read about ada being a fan of using her scissors whenever possible.
Alana, this is a fabulous idea! I saw that video on Vera Kate’s blog and just loved it but I loved watching it again too. Where did you order the lanterns from? I would love to get one sometime too!