Among the wild blueberries

We scattered Mike's ashes Wednesday in a ceremony both moving and silly, which is just what he would have wanted.

He said before he died that he wanted us to toss his ashes at passers-by while chanting, "Body o' Mike, body o' Mike ..." We let him know then we weren't going to do that.

It took me a year to be able to scatter his ashes. I thought about scattering them on Mount Pisgah but somehow it didn't seem exactly right. It wasn't until the morning we were scheduled to scatter his ashes that I thought of the wild blueberries along the Black Balsam Ridge. He loved the mountains, and he really loved blueberries. He'd eat them with heavy cream and maybe a sprinkle of sugar.

So I asked the group -- Janet, Danny, Shannon and my friends Annie and Val if they'd mind driving a little farther. It wasn't a problem for anyone, so we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway to Black Balsam, hiked in a ways and scattered his ashes among the wild blueberry bushes.

We all wore plaid flannel pajama pants and Life o' Mike T-shirts (except Rob, who wore one of Mike's heavy metal shirts). I wore his leather jacket and Janet wore his Slayer hat.

Then we each ate a Cadbury Creme Egg in his memory. We left the last one nestled at the base of a blueberry bush.

I saved a little bit for me and a little bit for James, who couldn't make the ceremony. I just couldn't let go of all of him.