Swimming in the Sink by Lynne Cox

Author:Lynne Cox
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

10

DECEMBER 22—DRIFTING AWAY

The next afternoon, friends and a couple of neighbors walked with me to the end of Seal Beach Pier. The wind was gusting, puffy white clouds were sailing across an aqua blue sky. The sun was strong. The sea was in motion, vibrant and alive.

My siblings and their partners gathered on the beach, put on wet suits, and swam parallel to the pier with our mom’s and Cody’s ashes.

I leaned into the cold wind and waited at the end of the pier for the ceremony to start.

My mom would have loved this blustery day. She would have loved to compose an abstract painting using the colors of sea, the pure white of the surf, the colors of the sun, clouds, and bright fishermen’s clothes on the pier. She would have loved sketching the fluid shapes of the moving water and incorporating textures in the waves, sand, wooden pier, and sky. She loved listening to the music of the ocean and the voices of family and friends.

A friend handed me a long-stemmed dark red rose. It reminded me of Mom, so beautiful and deep.

I looked at the ocean. She loved water. She loved to swim and gave me her love of water and her love of life. I missed her so much. And I missed Cody.

My siblings and their partners swam beyond Seal Beach Pier and formed a circle. They released Cody’s ashes and then they released our mother’s ashes.

There were bits of conversations carried to us on the pier, and laughter. We watched the family sip merlot from a bottle and pass it around the circle. I thanked God for my mom, and all that she had given me in my life. I tossed the red rose into the ocean. It fell and floated on silvery blue waves and bobbed in the sunlight.

My heart was breaking.

“Good-bye, Cody. Good-bye, Mom. I will always love you,” I whispered.

The wind blew my tears into the ocean toward the ashes.

I hoped they were okay.

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