The Wind Phone Bench.

Beau: Louise, my dear, why the long face? This glorious day is practically bursting with sunshine, even if it’s playing a little game of hide-and-seek behind the clouds. You’re surrounded by nature’s finest creations (including yours truly, of course), and you have the delightful company of your sister. So buck up, buttercup! Let’s savour this day!

Me: I hear you, Beau, but it’s hard to be cheerful today. It’s the one-year anniversary of Auntie Jackie’s passing.

Beau: OMG! You hoomans are so fixated on the physical plane! Auntie Jackie isn’t “gone,” she’s simply transitioned. Can’t you feel her presence in the whisper of the wind, the rustle of the leaves, the gentle swish-swish beneath your feet? She’s all around you, Louise. Always.

Me: I know, I know. But on days like today, the weight of her physical absence feels heavier than usual. It’s… hard.

Beau: “Hard?” “Easy?” Those are just words, Louise. Choose to focus on the love, and the “hardness” melts away like a snowman in July.

Me: (sighing dramatically) Oh, wise one. You always know how to bring me back to centre. Thank you, my furry guru.

Beau: Whoa there, hold your horses! Let’s not get carried away. I’m no guru, just a dawg standing in front of a girl asking her to love him.

Me: Wait a minute… are you quoting Notting Hill to me?

Beau: Perhaps. But as the wise Julia Roberts once said, “The fame thing? It’s not really real.” Well, the same goes for the “death thing.” Life is eternal, Louise. It’s just the individual journey that ends.

Me: Wow, Beau. That’s… profound.

Beau: Well, they don’t call me Yoda-dog for nothing.

Me: Who calls you that?

Beau: (chuckling) If you have to ask, it just proves how stuck in the mundaneness of this physical dimension you truly are.

Me: Harrumph! I’ll have you know, I’m a very spiritual person!

Beau: (with a sly grin) And the fact that you feel the need to announce it speaks volumes as to how not you are, my dear.

Me: Um… I don’t think that’s grammatically correct, Beau.

Beau: Louise, darling, while you may have “old” in your earthly years, “English” clearly isn’t in your pedigree. I suggest you leave the metaphysical musings of the Old English and spiritual language to me. Got it? Oh, and by the way, I miss Jackie too. She always made sure Uncle Jim brought me lots and lots of treats!

Me: That she did, Beau. She was the best.

Beau: And she always will be, Louise. Always will be. Now, enough with the gloomy faces! Let’s go chase some squirrels and celebrate the beautiful day!

And so we do, including visiting The Wind Phone where my sister, Anne and I, chatted with the beyond, sharing our love and gratitude for all that Jackie brought and gave to this world and us.

Namaste.

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This is the Wind Phone Bench on Gabriola. In 2010 Itaru Sasaki, a garden designer in Japan, created a phone booth in his garden to help him cope with his grief over his cousin’s death. He opened it to the public in 2011 after the Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami killed over 15,000 people. To date his wind phone has received over 30,000 visitors. Other towns and cities around the world have also created Wind Phones to provide those who are grieving an opportunity to connect with their loved ones who have departed.

Earlier this year the Gabriola Land & Trails Trust created a Wind Phone in the 707 conservation area.

Today, my sister Anne Gallagher and I visited the Wind Phone and sent messages of love and gratitude to our sister, Jackie Trafford on the one year anniversary of her journey into the beyond. We also toasted her, as well as our brother and parents, with a wee dram of scotch. (She and our dad always enjoyed their wee dram)

Thank you GaLLT volunteers for the heart, soul and sweat labour you put into protecting and restoring the natural ecosystems of the islands. You make a difference.

Today, your difference-making eased the weight of sorrow my sister and I both carry in the loss of our beloved sister.

Much gratitude.