ASHES TO ASHES

LIFE TO LIFE

I sit in the chair he sat in as we talked about life, laughed and complained. In a small box on a table in front of me are the ashes of that body my friend Bill inhabited for his 87 years on this earth. As I meditate on that box, I plunge into a strange place.

He is free, but I neither see nor hear him now. I miss him. A strong, good, problematic man, he was my best friend. We married the same woman we both dated in high school. I was with her first for 38 years. He and she were together for 19 years, up to the day he died.

Yes, we were best friends. He thanked me, sometimes, for remaining his friend as he lived with my former wife. I thanked him for doing for me a great favor, as he lived with my former wife. We were, are, quite a pair. Wife roles her eyes at our friendship. We both roll our eyes at her. He fusses, I laugh, she smiles at our strangeness. Yes, she too is my dearest friend.

— — —

As I stare at that box, I wonder, “Is it just that I have a hope for continuance of life after body”, or is it real? Silly question. By study, and far more importantly by experience, I KNOW it is real. I have on several occasions had undeniable experience of passing contact with those who have permanently left their bodies.

Human history world wide and throughout time confirms this certainty. But nothing confirms it like encountering it. Have I heard from Bill? I’m pretty sure, not certain, I have. A week or two following his graduation my fire alarm…