In mid-October, my father passed away suddenly. The weeks since then have been a whirlwind of trying to come to terms with his death, figure out his estate, and clean out his apartment, while still trying to keep up with work and my family’s full schedule.
In all of the commotion, one of the surprising things helping to keep me calm has been the unexpected addition to our family. With my father’s passing, our already chaotic menagerie of animals grew by one: his husky mix, Kee-Sa, came to live with us. All 74 lbs of her. She was only supposed to stay for a few days while we found a rescue organization for her, but she won me over. And my loving husband agreed that she could stay. Who could say no to this face?
We opted not to have a funeral for my father, but to have a “celebration of life” instead. Usually I celebrate things with beads, but every time I thought about looking in my bead box for something to wear to it, I couldn’t find the heart to. Finally, I decided to focus on one of his best friends for the last 11 years, Kee-Sa.
My father was a huge Lone Ranger fan and her name is an amalgamation of Tonto’s nickname for the Lone Ranger – Kemo Sabe. Although the exact translation of the term Kemo Sabe isn’t clear, the most common interpretation is “faithful friend.” Kee-Sa was certainly my father’s most faithful friend. And he was hers. He was only apart from her for one or two nights in the 11 years that he had her and that was for my wedding!
At some point, I would love to find or make a bead that really signifies “who” my father was but, until then, I have his Kee-Sa.