This post is not exactly about religion, but is about meaning. My wife of 50 years died on October 24, 2021. I nearly wrote the current euphemism 'passed away' but I am determined to write honestly. That she went on to an afterlife I believe, but in terms of this life she is dead.
But is she? Let me explain. I needed a small piece of notepaper and I grabbed a little square of sticky notes that were my wife's. The top had a message written at a Christmas in the past sometime. It said in her printing (her handwriting was always very clear too): M: GossBumps and Jack We2. I assume it was a scribbled note about toys to buy our two grandchildren. I folded it up to throw away, but stopped to write this.
The note is a part of my wife, an indication of her annual happy (sometimes) task of buying Christmas presents. Her mind, her emotions, her spirit are present in that ink on that coloured paper. We are physical creatures and interact with the physical and leave bits and pieces of ourselves not only in the minds and hearts of others, but in the flotsam and jetsam of material objects.
I've bought a red plastic file box that I have labelled the memory box. I cannot keep every little bit of material that my wife left behind. But I can keep items that meant something to her and perhaps now, a tiny bit of a scribbled Christmas gift list. Maybe it says more about her than any larger object.
