Cannot be Contained

Prologue

Light washed across the blue ceramic jar making it seem like a long ago glimpse of the Mediterranean.  It was then, that a heart shaped rock washed ashore.  No other stones were in evidence.  Just the heart.

The woman was mourning the death of her marriage and here was a heart.  A red shaped heart.  A stone.  Could this be a sign that love was not dead after all? 

Years passed.

Out of the blue, like out of the Mediterranean came love.  Such a love.  No words to describe.  Yet, it was short lived for death came too soon.

Cannot be Contained

It happened on the second birthday after his death, that cold calculated demand;   "His ashes, or I will take you to court." 

Stunned, the woman sat in disbelief.  The demand was made by the daughter. This "daughter" had no legal claim but she was on the warpath, perhaps because she had unresolved issues with this man who was third in a string of men called "dad."

The woman should have seen it coming.  She remembered in horror the demand this same daughter made of the mortician.  "I want the gold in his teeth."  Thankfully, the mortician refused. 

The decision was swift.  It was almost as if her beloved entered into conversation with her on the couch.  He was non-violent.  He was compassionate.  He would want no fight.  Besides the huge amounts of money involved with lawyers and court costs, the underlying value was to take the power by ending the fight before it began.  Like a misfired rocket, the daughter’s darkness would fizzle in the puddle of her assumed "winning."

The woman took the blue ceramic jar and tenderly transferred the cremains to the original box from the crematory.  She walked the path to the daughter’s front door, knocked, and put the box in the daughter’s hands without a word.

Epilogue

A week later, the woman took her story to her Buddhist therapist. 

"I have a thought," he said.  "All the while you were telling me I thought of your scriptures.  What happened when the women rolled back the stone after Jesus had been placed there"

"He was gone," said the woman.

"Yes," he said, "What a beautiful metaphor this is for your beloved.  Jesus could not be contained…and neither can your beloved."

"The daughter may have his ashes, but you have his love…forever."

The woman felt incredible relief.  Like a rock had been rolled away for her. 

"Yes!" she said.

"He cannot be contained."

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