Work has me doing a lot of driving this week. I've driven to Sarnia already, and on Friday I'll be driving to Goderich. Driving is actually one part of my job(s) that I really enjoy. I use the time to relax my ever-thinking brain, and just listen to whatever music is playing on whatever radio station that I'm listening to. I get to take in some beautiful scenery as well. While I'm busy not thinking about things, that's usually when some of my best ideas rise to the surface and I can receive them better. I usually have a notebook and a pen on the seat beside me to write those sort of things down. Don't worry, I always pull over to the side of the road or into a parking lot before I start writing.
With the deaths in my family, I've spent some time paying my respects and having visits with family who have gathered to do the same. My mother used to joke that funerals were our family's way of having a reunion, but truthfully, she wasn't far wrong. As a family, we just don't get together as often as anyone would like. We use the opportunity of a funeral to exchange information and phone numbers with one another, with promises of getting together soon. This go around, I'm doing my best to spread the word about a surprise birthday party we are having for the eldest member of our family, uncle Erick. He'll be 75 this year, and my sister has booked a hall for a get together. A much happier occasion to have our family gather.
On a side note, I had to giggle at how woefully unprepared that funeral home was on Tuesday evening. I don't think they had any idea how many people would be gathering for the Legion service and visitation. A typical visitation period would have any number of guests coming and going throughout a two hour period, and I suppose that is what that funeral home is used to. But on Tuesday, about 150 (or more) people descended on the place, promptly sat down and stayed put for the next 2 and a half hours. There wasn't a chair left in the place, so people just stood in the hallways wherever they could find a bare wall to lean against. There wasn't near enough refreshments set out. And the sheer number of children in attendance must have been a shock to them. Our family has never sheltered our children from the realities of death, and they are included in all the proceedings.
I must be off. Today we bury my cousin whom I've always called Auntie. I will miss her.
I'm sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteYou're having such a rough time right now, I'm so sorry. :(
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for your loss :( It seems for us too, that the only time we see people are weddings and funerals :(
ReplyDeleteI have been to a few visitations in the last 2 years where the funeral home was not prepared for the amount of people. Even when my mother passed in 1988, the owner of the funeral home was shaking his head in disbelief on that first night (kept asking if we were sure mom wasn't a politician or public figure) and they did some last minute scrambling for the next day (we had 3 2-hour times). People were lined up out the door. We didn't realize how many people mom touched and we were dumbfounded. I don't think a lot of people take it into account when planning.
Eboo, we say that in my family too - a death in the family is like a reunion. It seems like the only time I see cousins, aunts and uncles etc. So while it's sad to lose a member of the family it's good to renew relationships and share memories. No one really knows us like our families.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry for you loss.
ReplyDeleteJudy