Isaac Ray James

On what would have been Isaac's 39th birthday, August 29, 2022, we (his sisters, his niece, his mom, his dad) gathered at our house in Olympia to celebrate his life. We drove to the bigger lake, and then walked over the footbridge to the gazebo near where Ike liked to fish. After a little time to explore and reminisce, we leaned on the bridge railing, and each of us scattered some of his ashes into the lake. We stood for a bit and watched the ashes drift - and we cried for our boy. Back at our house, we went into the garden and buried the rest of Isaac's ashes - along with Kipper's (his cat) because Ike always needed a cat nearby, and we said our goodbyes to him. His mom read quotes from Doctor Who - a show they both enjoyed. His dad recalled the last few months of Isaac's life. His sister shared regret for what could have been. His other sister placed his stone over the grave. And his two-year-old niece supplied a soundtrack of doo-dah-doo-dah-doos throughout the ceremony - which made us all laugh even while we cried. Afterwards, we had dinner, toasted our Isaac, and had a slice of lemon meringue pie - his birthday dessert of choice. It seemed right and we think he would have approved - though not without some snark. We know he would have liked the pie.