Yesterday morning, I picked up my brother’s ashes from the funeral home in
Winston-Salem. From there, I headed to Triad Park to get in some much-needed hiking and geocaching. It was a stroke of
fair fortune that I ran into fellow cacher and friend Dave (a.k.a.
Rhodorooter), who happened to be going after some of the same caches as
I. A little later, I set a course for the old homestead in
Martinsville, this time by way of the residence of friends and fellow
geocachers Tom & Linda (a.k.a.
Skyhawk63 & Punkins19). They had a nice little care
package for me, which I greatly appreciate. Among the goodies were some chips
and ghost pepper salsa, which fiercely hit the spot (although I might have
overdone the salsa a bit).
Once at Pleasant Hill, I carried in Phred’s ashes, which I have put
into a nice rosewood container. I carried him up the same stairs from the
basement to the kitchen that Mom carried him up when she brought him home from
the hospital for the very first time in 1964. This simple act somehow felt
like... symmetry. My little brother was home once again, this time for the
last time. Just after dark, I scattered some of his ashes in the front yard,
where as kids we loved sledding when it snowed. Then I scattered some in the
woods where we used to camp out in warmer weather.
Phred’s longtime friend Jon had contacted me a while back, and we
decided to spend some time together at the first opportunity. That was last
night. He came over to the house for a while, and we set ourselves up at opposite ends of the downstairs family room to avoid sharing any death cooties. We did share lots of memories
of times together when he and Phred were pretty much inseparable. We raised
and sank a few drinks in the process. It was the best kind of quality time
during a sad time.
Headed back to Greensboro this afternoon by way of Danville and a new
geocache. Despite the hard, sad time dealing with Phred’s loss, in the past
couple of weeks, there have also been many wonderful, important celebrations
and remembrances of his life that lifted my spirits.
Here is a video I sent to Tom & Linda, which chronicles my first taste of the Ocracoke Variety Store Ghost Pepper Salsa they gave me.
