Look at this paradise.
This weekend, my chosen family and I escaped to a beautiful little island to celebrate Majestic and Jessica’s honeymoon and our big, big love for each other. We stayed at the cabin that my grandparents built in 1970, a place where my mom spent every holiday during her childhood and a place where my favourite childhood memories take place as well. Being there with the people I love most felt like showing them a big piece of my heart that not many people get to see. They listened while I told stories and shared memories about the cottage and the island, and they asked questions about my childhood and my blood family. They respected me when I took time to sit by the oak tree under which both my grandparents’ ashes are sprinkled, a place that is so heavy with energy and the presence of my grandmother that just being near that tree brings on a wave of tears. Majestic told me that they felt my grandmother protecting us this weekend, and I believe very strongly that they were right.
Every time my mom goes to the cottage, she brings something to hang from that oak tree - a bell, wind chimes, a mix of things from her worldly travels - and I’ve always wanted to do the same. So this weekend, I left a note for my grandmother written on the inside of an oyster shell, resting on a moss-covered branch of her tree. I told her that when the time was right, I’d join her there. I told her to wait for me.
