The Deceased Would Have Been Pleased

We attended a memorial service at noon today for a man who died in Santa Fe, and was cremated there, but some of his ashes had been saved for dispersal here in the Pacific Ocean.  He grew up here and loved to sail and to be on the water.  He came to be a quirky, fun-loving artist and sculpture in Santa Fe.  He had the true oddball's sense of humor and absolutely exuded "fun" from his pores. 

Family members (his father, step-mother, two of his sons, their girlfriends and his sister) gathered at Captain Kidd's, Redondo Beach, for lunch.  Captain Kidd's is a longtime family favorite seafood restaurant, well-loved by them all. 

Post this informal meal, the family would board a friend's sailboat for The Final Ocean Ride.  An intimate, but presumably short service would take place on the boat. 

After lunch, the group went to the parking lot and various preparations were made and decisions as well on who would go in which car.

Suddenly, it was discovered that as often happens in committee efforts, something had been forgotten.

It was the flowers to toss in the water after the ashes.  "I thought you were going to stop at that place on 2nd!"  "No, you said you were going to do it!"  I said, "Pity the Hermosa Beach Farmers Market isn't until Friday..."which was, of course, about par for my unlimited powers to be off-subject. 

One of the sons got a gleam in his eyes and pointed at the flowers growing at the driveway entrance to the restaurant.

"You know," he said speculatively,  "Dad would love it if we picked some of those."  The other son said, "He'd laugh - you're right; he'd love it." 

One son emptied the ice into the cooler with the beer and ducking behind a row of cars proceeded to pick four or five of the yellow day lilies and put them in the opaque bag.  thrusting the bag in the air, he said, "We got flowers! Let's go!" and off they went.  I'd like to think that the ashes were laughing as the flowers rained down.