Dear Family

Where to begin?

Sorry for being late in sharing this.....ran into some trouble at work when I got back and had to knuckledown, but the weekend is here and I want to share what happened this year as fast as possible while it it still fresh in my mind and soul.

I went to Shasta on Friday and would have loved to have matched the memorial to the Indy Gathering.....but I was taking two new young fathers out on their first Shasta adventure and they would leave on Tuesday morning (April 17), so I set the memorial for thatnight........

The two new fathers (Brain and Tim) got Shast-ized to the wonderful fishing and fun of houseboating and I am sure they will beging to bring their young families up to the lake for annual vacations, extending this largely undiscovered tradition and earthly paradise to a new generation. Including Dan, this makes three families now that I have paid forward this land of angels and mystery to.......which I guess is becoming my new self-assigned job for the future (or just another damn good excuse to go fishing).....as our family has now grown up, David leaves for college this summer and Jodi/Greg are busy with the twins.....thereis only Linda and I left in the nest.....

So I have begun choosing young fathers who love to fish to take up for a few days and share the joys of houseboating and fishing on Shasta.....haha, I am really blowing smoke now.......but, that is how I see it.....and it makes me feel good.

This memorial turned out to be extremely cathartic for me......an opportunity to revel in the gold and green of my sanctuary while being alone for the first time for the Readings and Sharings of our prayers, love and messages. I was the lone reader that night. On my beloved McCloud I tied up, just me, Cassie and Her.

This is the story of our memorial for Spring 2007.

After dropping the guys off I set off trolling up and down the McCloud. As always, she had her Spring Coaton, renewed, vital, fresh......so many shades of green. Can any of us deny the perfection and goodness of this
color green......not man's green, but God's green...so many hues and shades......so many forms of expression, forests of pines and firs, hanging ivy and the yellow-green deciduous trees with freshly minted leaves........the blue water, sometimes rippling from a tad of wind, other times so calm and
flat that the reflection on the waters could easily be turned upside-down and mistaken for the real thing.

God's work, God's gift to us.

Throughout the afternoon, I looked for signs that "they", the angels I would call to come and hear us and feel our love, that they were already assembling and excited about the opportunity to fulfill our requests.......to hear and take our love to those we
had to let go.

Much wildlife was around. Canadian Geese, mallards, eagles, fish and so much that was there, but not seen. At one point, I tied up for an afternoon lunch and dip with Cassie. While we caught the hot 3PM sun upon our
faces and bodies, the life-giving rays of the sun just felt so darn good. Do you all know what I mean? How great that first real basking in the sun feels after winter has passed and you get a chance to sit on your porch, or at the beach or on the back of your houseboat and just spread your body open to the sun! Then, your face starts soaking up the life-giving rays and it feels oh so warm........life-restoring......worship the sun that gives us life.

While I sat there, I soon noticed that some contrails from supersonic jets were being made above me.....wow, I soon counted seven in the sky above me and they looked really cool.....then, suddenly, another five jets appeared flying east to west.....and when they were just overhead, the middle jet did something very unusual......he(she) peeled up and over and changed the jet's flight back in the opposite direction.... "Hey," I said to myself, "that's the missing man formation!" Is that our sign, I wondered.....

A few minutes later, I saw five Canadian geese winging their way over to our houseboat, low on the water, they came to the only boat on the McCloud (I still dont get why I often find myself the only boat on the
lake)......and as they raised their wings to land and begin their honking for some treats.......only four of them landed......the middle one instead flew up and over my head and the roof.......Cassie began barking at them..... haha... but they easily out-barked her....and then as I waited for the fifth one to return....it did not....."Hey, that's the same missing man formation I just saw with the jets." Maybe it is a sign......after feeding the geese, I got on top of the houseboat and that drives Cassie nutso......but happy because she knows we are going into the water...

57 degrees, cold, but after getting burning hot on the back of the boat, just what the doctor ordered,,,,,I got to the edge (dangerous) and did my annual dive from the top of the houseboat.......not bad for a 57-year old boy.....the plunge into the cold water causes your skin to tingle and your head and face to feel so darn good......Cassie was with me by the time I bobbed up, just swimming circles and wondering what was next. I love the way she dog-paddles around me.....but, man that water was cold and my bones soon began to feel the cold......so I got out and toweled off.....
God, that felt good.

I pulled the stakes up and off I went for my eventual destination, Hunters Secret Point.......that very spot where I gave Stacia's ashes back to Mother Earth while listening to Celtic music.....the place where my own ashes shall be given back when my day has come.... the skyline on the opposite shore is made of towering limestone and granite mountains, covered with thick
forests......a place I have come to believe my angel flows through the wind in the trees.......weaving and floating with the birds and butterflys, effortlessly.

After tying the boat up for the night, I went inside and pulled out all of your emails and my prayers... I opened a bottle of Raymond Chardonnay, I got my picture of Stacia and two CD's out, Voices of God by Daniel Steven and Hope by David Bailey......this would be the music that would paint my feelings as I shared your loved ones names and your messages with the
angels.......

7PM arrived and it was time......

to be continued