Tahiti
by Robin Clark

This tree is on the island of Tahiti. I was walking around looking at all the different locations to place Dan's ashes, and as I passed the tree it spoke to me and said, "put Dan here."

I continued on the path but kept getting drawn back to the tree. When I looked at it closely I could see a little "seat" where the branches came together, and I knew this was the perfect place for Dan to watch the comings and goings around him. In this picture, my hand is on the seat.

I was sailing on a crew of 12 women (where else would Dan be but in the midst of a group of women?), and most of the time, since all I wore was a bathing suit, I kept the little bottle of ashes tucked into my cleavage. There's a maritime tradition to honor the first time a sailor crosses the equator and earns the title of "shellback." In this tradition there are special rituals to initiate the people on the crew who are crossing for the first time. Our ritual included dressing as various sea gods and singing, dancing and reciting poetry. As soon as the ritual was finished and we crossed the equator, this rainbow showed up.

But it even got more amazing as we sailed into the bay at Moorea. Now that we were shellbacks we had earned the right to summon the gods, so we called for dolphins, whales and other sacred creatures in a little prayer, and as we sailed in to the bay they showed up! Hundreds of dolphins! They were jumping and playing as if they were welcoming us. And when we left the area later that day, we were escorted by three whales, who were obviously good friends of Danny's.

This picture (left) was taken just before I jumped in to the bay at Moorea. My bathing suit is underneath my shirt, and Danny's safely tucked away next to my heart!