![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Saying goodbye to Aunt Mary
Nov. 16th, 2006 06:53 pmJust back from the memorial service for Aunt Mary (well, she'd be my great-aunt, actually...). Basically a short prayer service in the funeral home, and another in a mausoleum at the cemetary in Lawrence. Then afterwards, everyone parted company. Very short, and a bit impersonal if you ask me. That and she'd been cremated already, so we went into the chapel in the funeral home... and there's this black plastic box about the size of a toaster sitting on a catafalque. As I was praying and paying my last respects, I noticed some writing on the top of the urn: I thought at first it was a nameplate, but no, it was the name of the funerary urn company. Even the dead can't be free from commercial nightmares. I want to be cremated when my time comes and the reaper calls my number, but please, put my ashes in a nice silver container with my *NAME* on it.
I also managed to get the day off from work: I was going to call in last night, but we figured the kids would mess it up and the message wouldn't get to my boss, so we went and told them I needed the day off.
I haven't got the details yet on my cousin Mary's memorial service: she died on Long Island and they're shipping her up here. She also was cremated and they're supposed to be spreading her ashes in Newbury, so we might be going to that... except, I'm not in favor of spreading ashes, since it goes completely against my belief in the resurrection. I might go just to say goodbye to her, but it'd be a little hard for me to take in some ways. My dad plans on going, but as he said to me on the way back, he's cool with it if I decide not to go.
Odd little things that popped up: we showed up a bit early at the funeral home, so my dad and I were waiting in the front entryway for the rest of the family to show up, and there was this big mahogany chair against one of the walls, this lovely nineteenth-century affair with dragon claw feet, dragon head armrests and an ourouboros-style dragon on the chair back. So, I appropriated it. ::Laughs a little::
Then right before the memorial service started, these three old women came in and sat down right in back of us, some friends of my aunt's. I couldn't help thinking, "Nice, the Hecatae showed up." Except they were talking about... cranberry sauce recipes.
Then at the cemetary, this flock of crows and ravens showed up and were skulking around the mausoleum.
My dad and I nipped up the hill to pay a visit to the family plot. Got there just in time for the sexton and his assistant to arrive with the urn and to watch them bury it next to my grandfather. Said my dad to my mom when we came home, "Well, we watched them plant Aunt Mary". That's my dad for you!
I also managed to get the day off from work: I was going to call in last night, but we figured the kids would mess it up and the message wouldn't get to my boss, so we went and told them I needed the day off.
I haven't got the details yet on my cousin Mary's memorial service: she died on Long Island and they're shipping her up here. She also was cremated and they're supposed to be spreading her ashes in Newbury, so we might be going to that... except, I'm not in favor of spreading ashes, since it goes completely against my belief in the resurrection. I might go just to say goodbye to her, but it'd be a little hard for me to take in some ways. My dad plans on going, but as he said to me on the way back, he's cool with it if I decide not to go.
Odd little things that popped up: we showed up a bit early at the funeral home, so my dad and I were waiting in the front entryway for the rest of the family to show up, and there was this big mahogany chair against one of the walls, this lovely nineteenth-century affair with dragon claw feet, dragon head armrests and an ourouboros-style dragon on the chair back. So, I appropriated it. ::Laughs a little::
Then right before the memorial service started, these three old women came in and sat down right in back of us, some friends of my aunt's. I couldn't help thinking, "Nice, the Hecatae showed up." Except they were talking about... cranberry sauce recipes.
Then at the cemetary, this flock of crows and ravens showed up and were skulking around the mausoleum.
My dad and I nipped up the hill to pay a visit to the family plot. Got there just in time for the sexton and his assistant to arrive with the urn and to watch them bury it next to my grandfather. Said my dad to my mom when we came home, "Well, we watched them plant Aunt Mary". That's my dad for you!