Yesterday went well, the kids looked very nice-I will have to redress them up for pictures.
Jake was asked to be a pallbearer, he did a good job with the responsibility-though maybe a little TOO much of the responsibility went to his head, when later he told his siblings about carrying the 'sarcophagus'. I gave him his first shave before we left, so 2 new experiences in one day for him, big ones at that.
We attended the funeral, went to hear a prayer over the burial site and were scootched off, I have no idea why movies and television show the family tossing roses and dirt on the lowered coffin. I have never seen a coffin go down. The service was good, though I really don't like the preacher saying things about the deceased. I think it should JUST be family, sharing memories and maybe reading a favorite passage. After hearing her obituary read: 5 living children, 18 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren, someone, I guess from the funeral home, read a letter my uncle wrote about grandmother, then my sister read about a virtuous woman from the Bible and said some things. Then, the pastor I had never met got up and did a little sermon and contradicted himself in the 10 minutes he talked.
First, he said she was in Heaven now, that to be 'absent from the body was to be present with the Lord'. (the actual verse says 'and' not 'was') Then, he said on the day of final judgement, she-and all the faithful so if we ever want to see our granny again, we best all get saved and now-would be called forth from her grave to join God in Heaven. So...which is it? It's enough to know I don't want an officiator at my funeral. It was bad enough at Aunt Agnes' funeral just before Christmas when the pastor-who never actually met her-said, "Jesus looked down and saw Agnes and plucked her from the Earth to place on his Christmas tree as a favored ornament." REALLY? Jesus has a Christmas tree and might or...might not pluck up elderly women to decorate it? What if Agnes did not want to hang about on the heavenly boughs of the pagan-based tree?
At any rate, funerals do nothing to help my growing agnostic-headed-toward-atheist views, all I can say for sure is that I no longer have any Grandparents and that Grandmother was ready to go to whatever came next, she was done here. I think that's all anyone can really hope for. To leave behind a family who feels sadness and peace at your passing. To leave behind fond memories, people who will tell tales of you to their own children, who will follow your example and uphold things that had meaning to you. Who will always and forever love macaroni and cheese because there was always a box on the shelf when she knew I would be staying over. Of course, she also carried a signed 8x10 photo of George W. Bush in her purse and would often pull it out to pet his head. So...well, we can't ALL be perfect. : )
It's funny the things that come back now, she called exercise "doin' my Jane Fonda", she called biscuits larger than a fist a 'cathead' biscuit and told everyone to wear gloves if the biscuits were bumpy-topped and always followed 'amen' at family dinners with, "Y'all take out and eat now."
Anyway, I have to get going to the dentist. UGH. And still no word from Broadband Man. I will call this afternoon if I make it back un-traumatized enough to speak. I keep thinking of a sign I saw in Arkansas at a dentist that said, 'We Cater to Wimps'. That's what I want, some drugs and darkened rooms and matronly women to pat me now and then while muzac plays in the background. Then a ride home and more drugs and a good long sleep until I forget I ever even left home in the first place, but somehow got a tooth that stopped hurting and shinier teeth all around. LOL I swear, I would not question it.
