My mother, Helen Altazan Bourg, passed away last week after about 3 years in a nursing home. Several generations of our huge family gathered for the funeral in the little church in Brusly, Louisiana. This oak grows by the levee there. It was a beautiful service and an amazing time of reunions and reconnections with family and friends. She would have liked it a lot. These lines are from a poem my cousin Kathy read during the service.
	When you go across to the calm world, remember me to the stars, to the other side: to the realm beyond sound, farther than light, and to our saints there, wept clear of tears. ... But you have finally come home to yourself; how far, sweet Helen, we can barely dream. Here you are at the center of your might, lighter than light in your spiritual element-- like a wisp of smoke lighted from within, blazing your way among the abiding stars.