FNFD.BLOG

Well, not exactly a layover, but since I got home last night and leave again early tomorrow morning, it’s pretty close.

Things went pretty well last week. As it turned out, the casket was on the same flight I had out of Denver, so I guess I got to make one last trip with my grandmother. It snowed quite a bit the night I got in, but I’d gotten to the hotel to meet up with the family before it started, so it wasn’t any real trouble. The viewing and funeral were both on Wednesday, and there was a pretty good turnout for the poor quality of the weather, and the amount of time since she moved away (15 years). It was nice to catch up some with family and family friends, and some more unusual connections, such as my grandfather’s barber.

The funeral was fairly lengthy, being a catholic affair, so there is a lot of stand up, sit down, kneel, sing, pray. I feel out of place, being from the branch of the family that got away from the church, so I don’t know the responses to the prayers, and am always a step behind. My aunt’s eulogy was good though, pointing out that after all the years of my grandmother sitting in the back of the church every week, she was finally up front, and how she lived her life in the way of St. Francis, always out gardening and taking in injured animals to nurse back to heath and release.

When we were lining up to go to the cemetery, a dog came down the road along the cars and stayed at the hearse until we were ready to leave, and then ran across to meet it at the corner as it came around. We all took that to be a positive sign.

One plus to catholic ceremonies, is that there was a large lunch for everyone afterwards. Food and relatives are a good way to cope with things.

I vaguely remember alcohol and karaoke the night before, but I’m not altogether sure where that fits on the stages of grief, so it’s probably best to just ignore it (Fun Fact: Probably the worst possible way to sing karaoke is to have been signed up by your sister-in-law without you knowing it, to sing a song you’ve never heard of)

Apparently this never posted last week before I left, so I’ll put it up now.

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