TheOtherVillainess
Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter.....
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2003
- Messages
- 6,406
So Long and Thanks For All The Fish!
Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you,
That is how I know you go on
Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And youre here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go till were gone
Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold to
In my life well always go on
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And youre here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
Youre here, theres nothing I fear,
And I know that my heart will go on
Well stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on[
I will never again be able to hear that song without thinking of Gramma and Grampa. Anyone who knew them knew that they were the love of each other's lives.
The day of the funeral started off bleh, like any other day. I got up, put on some clothes and gave DS some breakfast. DH came down and I went back up to the room to shower and get ready for the funeral. As I was about to head back down to meet DH/DS in the breakfast room, the fire alarm went off. Some lady from another room down the hall stuck her head out,looking around for somebody, spotted me and went "Those *bleeping* painters! They did this the other day! I am going complain to management about this! Don't think I won't!"
I just kind of went
. So off I go in my black dress with nude hose and black kitten heeled round toed dress shoes. DS is dressed in a pretty pastel plaid shirt with khaki-colored courderoys and his sandals. DH is dressed to the nines with his dress pants, dress shirt, blue blazer and new tie. Yowza.
So anyway..we head out with DMIL/DFIL and DSIL (along with her crew) are supposed to meet us there. We arrive at the church and there are tons of people milling around, talking, looking at pictures of Grampa, etc. After about 45 min, the usher comes out and announces the service is about to start so everybody either goes inside or (in the case of DH and DFIL's brothers/sisters, their spouses and Gramma) takes their places for the entry into the church. I carry DS in, who is being a tad fussy and sit at the back. I cradle him on my lap and sssh him and in like 5 min, he goes to sleep. And remains asleep for the rest of the ceremony.
Now, this funeral was a first on two counts for me.1--I've never been to a traditional Catholic funeral and 2--I've never been to a funeral where somebody was cremated. How do you say goodby when there is no body to say goodbye TO?
Anyway..near the back of the church is a pretty tiled font and the priest enters with his assistant, who dips up a bowl of water from the font. The priest says something about death and rebirth and the waters of Baptism, then starts throwing water on everybody.
What? Ack. I didn't know I was going to get wet.
Uncle Gandalf (not his real name) comes in with the box containing Grampa's ashes and the priest says something about how when you are baptised you wear a white robe symbolizing..something..purity or whatever. So they are wrapping Grampa's box in a white cloth to symoblize..something else.
Some songs are sung, prayers intoned. One of the ILs reads some verses and the priest gets up and does his eulogy or homily or whatever it's called. He goes on and on about how Grampa was a carpenter and Jesus being a carpenter and what not. I get so sleepy (because it's warm in there) that I almost fall asleep. Until DS wakes up and starts screaming. I sssh him and count to 30 mentally. I figure if he doesn't sssh by the time I get to 30, I can sneak him out. He doesn't sssh so I
out into the lobby with him, where he immediately goes back to sleep. 
After about 15 more minutes, everybody adjourns to the parking lot for the military portion of the ceremony. There is an honor guard of WWII vets who present Gramma with a flag and do a 21 gun salute, which scares the crap out of DS and IttyBitty.
Afterwards, there is a lunch served by the lovely church ladies and DS ends up in a highchair that (judging by the design on the seat cover and the construction)is probably older than I am.
We eat, we party, we schmooze we go home..well...not happy but anyway..we head back to the hotel to change because there is an after-party at Auntie J's again today. Which means more swimming in the 'big kid pool' for DS and IttyBitty. And more drinking for the rest of the adults, save myself and DH. :drink:
Many hours pass without even being noticed and eventually everybody heads back to their respective homes or hotels for the evening.
TOV
Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you,
That is how I know you go on
Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And youre here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go till were gone
Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold to
In my life well always go on
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And youre here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
Youre here, theres nothing I fear,
And I know that my heart will go on
Well stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on[
I will never again be able to hear that song without thinking of Gramma and Grampa. Anyone who knew them knew that they were the love of each other's lives.
The day of the funeral started off bleh, like any other day. I got up, put on some clothes and gave DS some breakfast. DH came down and I went back up to the room to shower and get ready for the funeral. As I was about to head back down to meet DH/DS in the breakfast room, the fire alarm went off. Some lady from another room down the hall stuck her head out,looking around for somebody, spotted me and went "Those *bleeping* painters! They did this the other day! I am going complain to management about this! Don't think I won't!"
I just kind of went
. So off I go in my black dress with nude hose and black kitten heeled round toed dress shoes. DS is dressed in a pretty pastel plaid shirt with khaki-colored courderoys and his sandals. DH is dressed to the nines with his dress pants, dress shirt, blue blazer and new tie. Yowza.So anyway..we head out with DMIL/DFIL and DSIL (along with her crew) are supposed to meet us there. We arrive at the church and there are tons of people milling around, talking, looking at pictures of Grampa, etc. After about 45 min, the usher comes out and announces the service is about to start so everybody either goes inside or (in the case of DH and DFIL's brothers/sisters, their spouses and Gramma) takes their places for the entry into the church. I carry DS in, who is being a tad fussy and sit at the back. I cradle him on my lap and sssh him and in like 5 min, he goes to sleep. And remains asleep for the rest of the ceremony.
Now, this funeral was a first on two counts for me.1--I've never been to a traditional Catholic funeral and 2--I've never been to a funeral where somebody was cremated. How do you say goodby when there is no body to say goodbye TO?
Anyway..near the back of the church is a pretty tiled font and the priest enters with his assistant, who dips up a bowl of water from the font. The priest says something about death and rebirth and the waters of Baptism, then starts throwing water on everybody.
What? Ack. I didn't know I was going to get wet.Uncle Gandalf (not his real name) comes in with the box containing Grampa's ashes and the priest says something about how when you are baptised you wear a white robe symbolizing..something..purity or whatever. So they are wrapping Grampa's box in a white cloth to symoblize..something else.
Some songs are sung, prayers intoned. One of the ILs reads some verses and the priest gets up and does his eulogy or homily or whatever it's called. He goes on and on about how Grampa was a carpenter and Jesus being a carpenter and what not. I get so sleepy (because it's warm in there) that I almost fall asleep. Until DS wakes up and starts screaming. I sssh him and count to 30 mentally. I figure if he doesn't sssh by the time I get to 30, I can sneak him out. He doesn't sssh so I
out into the lobby with him, where he immediately goes back to sleep. After about 15 more minutes, everybody adjourns to the parking lot for the military portion of the ceremony. There is an honor guard of WWII vets who present Gramma with a flag and do a 21 gun salute, which scares the crap out of DS and IttyBitty.
Afterwards, there is a lunch served by the lovely church ladies and DS ends up in a highchair that (judging by the design on the seat cover and the construction)is probably older than I am.
We eat, we party, we schmooze we go home..well...not happy but anyway..we head back to the hotel to change because there is an after-party at Auntie J's again today. Which means more swimming in the 'big kid pool' for DS and IttyBitty. And more drinking for the rest of the adults, save myself and DH. :drink:
Many hours pass without even being noticed and eventually everybody heads back to their respective homes or hotels for the evening.
TOV
