Salt and Peppering My Dad’s Ashes: My Grief Ritual at Redfish Lake, Idaho

In this episode of Viral Mindfulness, Alexander Blue Feather invites you along on an intimate pilgrimage through Idaho’s Redfish Lake, a landscape of dark skies, towering saw-toothed mountains, and quiet revelation. Carrying his father’s ashes, Alexander reflects on grief as a deep form of praise—an apprenticeship with sorrow—and shares how letting go of the search for extraordinary signs revealed the power of simply being present. You’ll hear the poem The Longboat by Stanley Kunitz (read by Jude Theriot) which became a guiding touchstone in the first hours after his father’s passing. This episode includes the original live recording of Alexander’s words spoken at his father’s celebration of life—a tribute to their healing, their chosen relationship as father and gay son, and the courage to love beyond inherited frameworks. Along the way, Alexander brings you into the raw moments of scattering ashes in Redfish Lake and Redfish Creek, offering simple rituals of farewell stitched with humor, gratitude, and tenderness. Part travelogue, part elegy, and part love letter, this is an exploration of how grief, memory, and devotion can transform loss into something luminous. This is a story of lineage, healing, and the way love continues; long after a life has ended. 'The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden,' by Stanley Kunitz (Author), Genine Lentine Marnie Crawford Samuelson (Photographer)