Way To Go Meeting Minutes, Oct 17, 2022
14 of us met in the Main Hall of the QCC, and 2 joined by Zoom, kindly facilitated by Matthew.
After a rich time of sharing, Terry Peebles gave a beautiful and heartfelt talk about her experiences with death. She told us about her daughter Gabrielle; what it was like to parent a child who was not healthy, how much Gabrielle gave to Terry and others in the challenging 8 ½ months she lived, and what it was like to let go. Terry went on to talk about other deaths of those close to her, and how at the end, no matter how difficult the circumstances leading up to the final breath were, there was peace. Terry described a shift of energy in the room, a shimmering, and glimpses of support coming from the other side. Terry’s talk touched on mystery, and in both the talking and the listening, something changed.
Business Items
For those of us who heard Priya’s talk last month about care of the body following Jewish customs and rituals, I wanted to follow up on one aspect. Priya spoke of the importance of wearing protective gear and gloves when handling the dead. Our learning is that whatever precautions were used before the person died, need to be followed after death. This usually does not involve protective gear. Priya would not know much about the person, or the circumstances around their death, and would therefore assume in each case the body had a communicable disease.
Joan and Dave Smith are selling their home. We have a number of cardboard caskets, available to families who choose family-led cremation for a loved one, stored in their basement. We will need another space to store these. Vic Gladish may have suitable storage. Dave Smith has a standing offer to help someone build a box in his workshop, and with his help. If this is of interest, the offer stands until the house sells.
Next month John Grimstead will come and teach us about the Quadra Island Cemetery. Way To Go has requested changes to the cemetery policies. This meeting will not address those requests. It will be an opportunity for us to learn more about the Quadra cemetery, and how cemeteries in general are managed.
Last meeting, we formed a sub-committee to explore ideas about ways to invite the Quadra community to learn about death, dying and grief. The Death Education Fair, we decided previously, would be a large event every second year. We talked about what we could do in the alternate years that isn’t too onerous. Showing a movie, like Tender or Coco, was suggested. Someone in the audience mentioned Soul was a movie like Coco. Although Tender was excellent, it was shown 3 years ago, and people will remember. The sub-committee leaned toward a movie that would need to be purchased for a one-time showing, and then returned. Perhaps it could be one of the Friday Flicks, and there could be a discussion period after the showing. The sub-committee will look into that. Please watch and comment on In The Parlor: The Final Goodbye – TRAILER – YouTube.