Floating On The Astral Plane
Diane, Helen and I were rooting around in Helen’s room looking for cufflinks for Matt’s prom shirt. When Brian and Joan were still teenagers and still talking to each other, they worked together making kiln-fired copper enamel ceramic jewelry. Earrings and cufflinks and maybe a tie clasp or two. I thought how cool would it be to see Matt wearing their art? No, I didn’t yet know if Matt would share my enthusiasm, I first wanted to find a matching pair.
While my mother and Diane focused on the obvious places like the jewelry box on her dresser, I pulled open the top drawer. Deep in the back, behind the bobbie pins, buttons, the green golf ball, the squeezed dry tube of Ben Gay, and the “I Like Ike†button, I spied a strange looking salmon and gold glass jar with a gold octagonal cap. It fit nicely in the palm of my hand and I twisted the top off. Sprinkled sparsely on the bottom, like pollen on a flower petal, was saffron colored dust. I stuck my nose in and inhaled.
“Mother, how come I don’t smell anything?†I asked as I rubbed my now itchy nose filled with saffron shavings.
“Why would you?†she answered. “Ruth Hetzel brought that jar back from India. Those are Sy Baba’s ashes.â€
I hope you carefully blew your nose, set the hankie out to dry, then scraped what you could of that poor man back into his reliquary! I don’t believe snorting the remains of avatars contributes to satori … Hard to think of anything more richly Michael than that tale, though!
Comment by el Kib — April 21, 2006 @ 7:47 pm
EWWWWWWWW!
Comment by La Rad — April 21, 2006 @ 9:24 pm
How did I miss this story?! For years we had my husband’s mother’s ashes on the mantel, then in our bedroom closet. I didn’t really like that when we … um, engaged in marital relations. (Sometimes it sounds awkward to manage no euphemisms.) Finally we changed bedrooms and we didn’t bring the ashes with us. My mother, on the other hand, IS resting in all the places she requested. Personally, I want to be all in one place, underground, with a marker.
Comment by Jennifer — April 29, 2006 @ 2:49 pm