Today, March 9, is seven months since Bill died and last week on Casey Key in Florida I fulfilled a promise that we made to each other. Since getting sober and finding recovery in 1992 we were invited to visit my mother, Betty and her husband, Fred, at their beautiful house on Casey Key. At first it was with them being there but after accepting that we were really sober and responsible they allowed us to use their home during the summer when they weren’t there to supervise. We visited Casey Key nearly every summer during the month of August for two week idylls in the sun. We loved the hot summer on the beach and Bill got to indulge his passion of collecting ancient sharks teeth and other fossils strewn across the beach. Over the years we collected at least ten thousand that we kept in a fish bowl to run our hands through and remember the beach and all its treasures. We often discussed what should be done with the collection after we had passed (we thought then that we would go together, of course) and the idea came to us that we should have someone take the collection back to Casey Key to scatter them back on the beach we both loved so much. So it has come to pass that Bill left this earth before me and I knew from the start of this new adventure that this was what I had to do. I was bound to reseed the beach of Casey Key with sharks teeth for future beachcombers.
When an opportunity came to visit the beautiful house on Casey Key with family members to ready it for sale in late February, I definitely knew what I had to do. I brought with me two thirds of the shark’s teeth we had collected (I kept one third to scatter when I am gone) and a portion of his ashes to return to the beach he loved so much. It all weighed ten pounds. On Tuesday, March 4, I walked north on Casey Key road to the beach lined with old concrete pilings from a long forgotten pier. I had to walk on the road because the beach has changed and it is no longer possible walk the whole way on the sand as it was in the past.
As I started to cast the teeth into the surf, I remembered the photo I had with me of him
Bill-Beach-2013
walking on the beach in 2007 so I placed it up against a rock in the sand and took this photo. I picked up the picture and continued my walk down the beach tossing handfuls of teeth mixed with ashes. I felt that he was there with me. When I finished my walk I was again at the beach that was the starting place for all our beach adventures, I divided the rest between my sister Carla, my brother-in-law, Kurt, and my brother, Bruce. We each said a prayer of our own choosing as we cast the remaining teeth and ashes into the Gulf surf. So ended our informal tribute and goodbye to Bill, beachcomber extraordinaire–a promise fulfilled.