Penelope has experienced loss. She knows that death is an inevitable part of life. But her memories fill her with pain, even the happy ones. She tries desperately to forget them. When this doesn’t work, she decides to go on a journey to understand the deep ache she feels in her heart. She travels to a forest known to be filled with phantoms and apparitions. Inexplicably she feels that renewal is taking place in this dank, wet forest. She can smell it in the damp leaves, feel it in the soil beneath her feet and see it in the understory. These are the souls of the remembered. The shadows swirl around her and when they disappear she experiences a lightness both physical and spiritual, as though something dark has moved out of her body. She is filled with a sense of peace and comfort. Through the light, she sees the ocean on the horizon. She makes her way to the water. She is astonished by it’s vastness. It, too, is filled with spirits. But these are the remnants of the forgotten. They call to her. She moves towards the water and sees that the ocean vacillates between calm and turbulent. It is tempestuous and is at the mercy of the fickle moon’s position. She wonders if their souls want peace, but it seems as though all they need is for her to bear witness to their cycle. She stays to watch several cycles pass. After this, she ventures back through the forest to home. She contemplates the journey she has just taken and tries to make sense of it. She believes we live among the souls. They are in the trees, seas, and clouds. And with them are her memories. She realizes now that she was foolish by trying to ignore them. There is so much comfort and love for her in the remembering.
