Honoring a Dear Friend on Angel Day

This angel day I’d like to honor Mark Bayless, a friend who came in to our lives to help us on our healing journey.  After our funeral for our son, we still had plans to make for him.  We still needed a headstone.  The cemetery he was buried at I’d like to call a an ole’ cowboy cemetery.  There weren’t any real regulations that we had to follow, so we took our time and let ‘spirit’ guide.  I had a feeling that some artist would somehow wander into our lives and help us make Orion’s headstone very personal, I just didn’t know how this person was going to appear.  

The stone was found on the trail at Cherry Creek and was a beast to haul out from the gauging station, but with the help of David Holladay, Pete and him were able to do it.  Then Mark came into our lives, also via David.  They were both at a rock shop and got talking to one another.  Somehow Anasazi came up in conversation and Mark wanted to know how he could help.  He carved some petroglyphs into some rocks and I saw them at the office.  I knew we had found our artist, then we needed to meet him and become friends.  

Like us he was at a crossroads in life, wondering what was next.  We had great times together roasting marshmallows, building with blocks, drumming, and sharing our hardships.  Then I finally got brave enough to ask for his help.  When I asked him, he just looked at me as though he had been waiting for this conversation.  Together we drew designs and then he took the rock and the plans home.  When we finally went out to his place to see it and hear his story of completing it, everything fell together, it was complete.  Soul friends are what we’ve become.  I love that man, and the healing that we got to all do together.