Tribute to Todd 05 ... 3rd Ceremony at Green Sands Beach

The Green Sands Beach (actually named Papakolea) is quite the remarkable location. One of only four green sand beaches in the world, it gets its unique color from the semi-precious mineral peridot (or olivine) of which most of its sand is comprised.Show more

Back in early spring of 2008, when we were living together on the Big Island, Todd and I took an early-morning trip to this beach -- a Peace-full adventure I remember quite fondly. We were the only two people there that morning, and we both took off all our clothes and sunbathed for awhile on the soft green sand.

As he was wont to do, Todd took a dip in the then-gentle surf, and we both enjoyed exploring the crumbling cliffs from which the green sand is steadily "mined" by the wind and the waves.

As mentioned in the description of Video 03 (and as is quite evident in this video as well), it was an eceptionally windy that day. It's not clearly evident in the footage, but the half-caldera that borders this beach is quite steep (a 45 degree slope; sometimes even steeper). Knowing this makes the "dancing bottle" seen at 0:35 pretty remarkable. Indeed, at the time this video began, I had already been watching that very bottle float up and down the sleep slope for over ten minutes. It really wanted to give in to gravity's wishes, and yet the wind simply wouldn't let it fall -- and so for almost a quarter of an hour, it let go, and danced.

I like to think Todd found a similar solace in his final moments.

Peace ... S

P.S. As it so happens, at 2:10 of the video I am seen looking at the exact spot where Todd had been climbing the day we went there together. Because the cliffs are extremely brittle and therefore quite slippery, it was as high as he could go, and even though he clearly wanted to climb higher, he "accepted his fate" that day and returned to the beach, sliding down the slope much the same way his ashes tumble-slid back towards the ocean.