Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Calypso, Melissa


North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii


Wreck Rock ~ Deep Water National Park ~ Australia


Waiheke Island, New Zealand


My daughter's life can be summed up in a few words. A short life that spanned the sea. Calypso Paikea Rhyder, her very name came from the sea. She was my ocean baby. Only three weeks and 2 days she spent with us, but her name has touched thousands of hearts and has rested on hundreds of seashores.

This entry isn't something 'I've' personally done. It's a project I put out into the world two years ago and that is still going on. Two years ago for Calypso's second birthday I asked some friends to write her name into the seaside at the ocean in the sand. I'm landlocked and couldn't do it. The photos started rolling in. Now in 2011, Calypso's named has touched over 250 shorelines and I've received over 300 photos. From South Africa, to the UK to the USA. Her name has touched the short.

I'm attaching a few of these photos. This year on April 15, 2011 my friend on Waiheke Island in New Zealand put my daughter's ashes into the sea for her final journey. I've not been able to go down to the sea myself, but someday.... I will. In the meantime I pray Calypso's name continues to touch on different shores and land on different hearts.

E kore te aroha
e maroke i te rā,
Mākūkū tonu i
aku roimata e.

From one of the lullabys I sang to her while she lived

My love will never
be dried by the sun,
It will be forever moistened
by my tears.

Thank you for allowing me to share my girl. and my project

About the artist

Melissa lives in Indiana with her husband and 2 older children. Calypso was their last child. Born at 29 weeks 5 days, she lived for three weeks two days. She died of Renal Failure as a complication of an infection called NEC. Melissa runs a charity in her daughter's name called Calypso's Ocean

In November she will be moving to Ohio and then they will only be 8 hours from the Ocean. She hopes to get out there early February and finally see the Ocean for the first time since her daughter was laid to rest. You can read her blog at Scars in my Yarn

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