By Kendall Clark Baker
It all started with Sonia’s environmental passion. Although at first she had planned on cremation, it was repulsive to her knowing how much carbon would be released into the atmosphere. To say nothing of how violent and impersonal the process is.
When Sonia returned home one day from an environmental meeting, she told of having just met the most remarkable person. Katrina Spade had shared with her an alternative vision of how bodies might be handled after death. A totally natural process. Sonia was hooked. She began to advocate for this vision.
Before Sonia died, she shared that she wanted her body to nourish a tree, “a Gravenstein apple tree. That kind of tree makes the best apple pies.”
As our family was discussing the possibility of planting a tree in her memory, we learned of an existing 40-year-old Gravenstein apple tree in a publicly accessible garden. On Friday of Mother’s Day weekend, the four children Sonia birthed spread 27 bags of compost—her soil—into the earth beneath the tree.
Six small containers were held back for another tree planting—this time in a cemetery where there was a small marker with Sonia’s name. As two sugar maple trees were transplanted adjacent to the marker, the family gently worked this remaining soil into the earth.
“From earth to earth.”
These traditional words spoken graveside, were filled with more power than ever.
Mother to Mother Earth. So peaceful, so personal. We rejoiced that Sonia had come home.
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