This Morning on Raven Radio Melissa interviewed representatives from the Sitka Cancer Survivors Society.  They were promoting a fundraising event that helps raise money for mini grants to Sitkans with Cancer, $1,000 the first year and $500 a year for the next four years, if needed.  But they also mentioned the “Path of Hope.”  The Path is off the beaten path, between lower Moller Field and Swan Lake.  Along the path pages from “The Book of Hope” are scattered like the wind was spreading messages to ponder.  There are also benches and “The Flame of Hope,” a sculpture by Steve Lawrie.  The path is maintained by volunteers. I thought it was a beautiful day to wander along its loops.

As I was walking the path I thought of the Russian Orthodox Cemetery.  I normally do not visit cemeteries, I prefer to remember loved ones as living, vital people.  But this one is a place where I wouldn’t mind spending my wait for eternity, although I suspect I am not eligible to rest there. But if I could rest here I know my remains would feed the ecosystem of these chaotic yet somehow organized woods which are so lovingly maintained by Bob Sam and where so much of Sitka’s history rests.  This cemetery offers a different type of hope, an eternal hope but one that feeds the cycle of life, kind of like my log.