I will tell you my story and how I came to know about Be a Tree Cremation. My son passed away unexpectedly on 9.16.21, 12 days before his 32nd birthday, we were making plans to celebrate him, we had just talked on the phone the day before and texted before he went to bed. I will never forget the call, my life changed forever, he was my only child. I would have never thought that my healthy 31 year old son would go before me, go to sleep and never wake up. I never thought I would be seeking any type of burial services for my 31 year or old son, never thought about pre-planning for myself, just never thought about any funeral planning at all and had not talked to my son about any of this, why would I, he was young, healthy, active, outdoorsy and full of life! What I did know was that he would not want to be buried, that he loved the environment and would do anything to save it. My son loved the outdoors, nature, hiking, rock climbing, camping, white water canoeing, ice climbing and nature in general and he loved Colorado and all of its beauty. When I learned of water cremation and Be a Tree and it's founder Emily Nelson and what Be a Tree stood for, no carcinogens to pollute our air like a traditional fire cremation, I knew my son would approve. Emily and her staff at Be a Tree, were so helpful to my family, they were patient, they helped guide us, helped set up a small visitation prior to cremation, worked with us on the ceremony, my sons Celebration of Life, gave us some ideas for a venue and a Celebrant, they held our hand during the worse time of our lives.
My family and I also got to know Half Moon Farm in Lakewood, after the water cremation, the liquid byproduct of water cremation is a nontoxic solution of amino acids, peptides, sugars, and soap, which makes a wonderful fertilizer that Be a Tree calls "Tree Tea", families may take some Tree Tea home to water trees and plants in their personal garden or donate to Half Moon Farm to be used on flowers and other non-edible plants; this is the option I chose. For this reason Half Moon Farm will always be a special place for me to go as well. We had some really nice bouquets of fresh cut flowers from Half Moon Farm at my sons service, they were absolutely beautiful.
I will never forget the kindness that Emily and her staff showed to my son and my family; they took broken people and lifted us up with love and light and helped us navigate the darkness of death.
Special shout out to Emily, Sheree and our Celebrant Erin, with love always read more