We are coming up on one year since Kade's sister died. Kade had already booked - many weeks ago - a special remembrance ceremony at Serenity Insight Meditation Center (SIMC). Of course, just like last year at the 100th day service, I was going with her. Once that got on the books, I started thinking about what I could do to surprise Kade. I wanted a unique way to keep her sister's memory alive. One day I started looking through some photos from previous trips to Thailand and stumbled upon a gem. It was from 2009, on a visit to a park about an hour outside Bangkok. I was with Kade and her brother and sister that day. At one point, Kade's sister Nan walked over to me and showed me a flower she had picked up. She held out her hand, and I took the image below. And for all these years it's been on one of my portable drives. When I rediscovered it, I just knew that it's likely a photo Kade wouldn't even remember. The next thing I did was send out texts to certain family and friends for ideas on how I could use the photo to surprise Kade. I got some great ideas. A week or so later, I walked with a friend down to Asheville's River Arts District (RAD). The very first shop I walked in was Sew What? by Jaime. We looked around a bit, talked with the artist/creative designer Jaime, then I pulled up the image on my phone and shared the story behind it. Within a few minutes, a decision was made: It was going to be a pillow case, with the picture on it, but with the flower made of cloth, and painted. And then the flower would be hand-sewn onto the pillow. On the back of the pillow would be Kade and Nan (their last photo together), framed by light purple, Nan's favorite color. The work was done in a few weeks, and all I can say is that when I set up the surprise for Kade, and she saw the pillow for the first time, it made her cry. She really loved her sister. Jaime did an amazing job! Please visit Sew What? by Jaime in the RAD!
And just last weekend I accompanied Kade to the temple. Kade presented items to the monk: a beautiful sushi tray, a bouquet of flowers, homemade banana muffins and more. And there was a short little meditation prior to his lunch, and then another meditation and water pouring ceremony afterwards. The last step was Kade watering a Bodhi tree.
Before we left, Bhante (the monk) showed photos of a special visitor that was up on the property in late March. He also had some videos. I asked him if I could upload the video on my YouTube channel, and post the video and all his photos on my blog. Thanks Bhante!
More of Jamie's work
Click here for another ceremony for Kade's sister.
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