Nothing ever dies…
A spiritual teacher once told me “Nothing ever dies, it just changes form.”
He claimed that while loved one’s who pass on can never be replaced, their love can continue to nurture us through different means.
This weekend we celebrated another Yoga Teacher Training Graduation, and in our program this year was a very special young woman named Shayna. When she was just a teen, her mom died. With dad not a presence in her life, Shayna would have been left to forge her own path, had it not been for good friends, Mark and Burnadette, who quickly jumped in as surrogate parents (Burnadette and I were friends years ago when I taught yoga in Truro.)
Years later, when Shayna was considering a yoga training program, Burnadette directed her toward us, certain that what she needed was in our care. Over the past year, we’ve developed a strong love for one another and I’ve often jokingly requested to adopt her as well.
Yesterday she presented me with a box. Inside were a card and a gorgeous pair of hand-made earrings. Here’s what she wrote:
“These earrings are made of beach glass, which Mark, Bernadette and Mikayla have been collecting for years. After my mom died, I chose to burry her ashes at her favorite beach. We went out at low tide, spread her ashes in the sand, read poems, laid flowers and waited for the tide to roll in.
As the water swept over her ashes, her spirit was welcomed into the bubbling waves. Now, as long as I am near the ocean, I am near my mom. Knowing my connection to the beach, Mark and Burnadette have shared their beach glass collection with me, and it is my turn to share it with you.
You and Blair are the kind of beautiful souls that my mom used to tell me about in stories. I know she would be very happy that our paths have crossed.”
Nothing ever dies, it just changes form.
Signing off as Shayna’s Yoga Mom,
Jenny