Partial View of Altar in my Room
In every home we stayed in for a length of time, Scott created an altar with natural pieces he found on our travels. A piece of driftwood, feathers, stones, an abalone shell. Each altar represented the four elements: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water.
When Scott passed away, I slept under his altar for weeks until I left the mountain. Carefully, I removed the pieces of his altar and packed them when I left.
Here, at my temporary home for the next few months, I put his altar back together again. I added pieces of my own to it. Flowers, a candle, a personal item of Scott\’s.
Every morning, I light the candle on the altar. I touch his altar, our altar and bless it.
When David, my brother, passed away I created an altar for him. I wish, now, that I had created one for all the animals I have lost. I think it would have helped me during the grieving process instead of shutting down.
I imagine, now, I will always have an altar when I am at home for awhile like Scott did. Scott will always be a part of my altar and I will add and take away pieces as life moves along always keeping some of Scott\’s pieces with me.
