May the road rise to meet you
John and I got to the church (our lady of the rosary in worcester) at 9:36. There were three other cars in the parking lot so we waited. Soon enough my Aunt Yvette and her daughter Susan arrived. I hadn't been able to catch them at the calling hours so John and I got out of our car and walked up to the church with them.
Ah, the awkward moment of "where do we sit?" We're family after all so we ended up going up about nine rows from the front. Yvette and Susan sat with us. I was glad we could keep them company. My Aunt Yvette is a quiet lady who never assumes she is invited anywhere or even assumes she is officially part of the family. Even though she is.
10:01. The music starts and the casket comes down followed by the rest of my family who had met at the funeral home. I am now kicking myself for not meeting them there because John, me, Yvette and Susan are now three rows back from everyone else. And now the people who aren't family and who sat in the back section are staring at us wondering how we could have been so rude to sit so close to the family when we obviously aren't family...
The priest does his opening spiel. John said he reminded him of the "lost another one to ditech" guy. I believe since none of us stood up at the proper time the priest probably felt that he should fit in every major Catholic teaching into his funeral talk. And he did. He even told us all when to stand up, sit down, and kneel. We were apparently that bad at being Catholic. ;)
Mom and Aunt Mary (not the aunt whose husband died. that's Aunt Sue) got up to do the eulogy. My mom read a scripture (from The New World Translation) about how a body may be withered on the outside, but the man inside is still looking forward to the future. Aunt Mary got up to do her part and said, "Father asked me to write down what I was going to say. I think he was worried I might run overtime. So I wrote it all down." ::holds up a rather large notebook as everyone but the priest laughs:: She said a lot of beautiful things and of course there were some sad parts too. "Bob's been a part of this family for 42 years now, and he's always just....been there. He just kind of hung around, happy to be around his family."
My Uncle had to have both his legs amputated within the last couple years sadly. Heart and circulation problems. My Aunt Mary also said that whenever anyone marveled at the fact that Bob was still alive they always said they could sum up the reason he was in two words - Susan Elwood. Cue the crying throughout the entire audience of people.
Then she recited an Irish blessing (at which point even she started to catch her voice), they played Amazing Grace, and we left. They also played "let there be peace on earth" which got to John because his favorite priest used to make everyone sing it at church when he was little.
The cemetery service was quick. It was windy and frigid out. The priest said a few words and then we all started to drift off to our cars. My Aunt Sue asked if John and I would be going back to Uncle Bill and Aunt Chris' house for lunch. John drove me over there but only stayed a minute. We all had lunch and sat around and chatted. My parents drove me home after because John had to be back to work. It was an interesting and sad day all around.
Aunt Sue made me take food home because she said Bill and Chris would just throw it out. :) And I got to hear some great childhood stories from them all. Not to forget too that all my aunts have now insisted that they are going to my wedding and will even pay for their meals. (which of course I'm not going to allow. The paying, not the attending.) It's nice to know that your family cares that much about you and it's always sad to see them at a funeral but always nice to get together and spend some time listening to one another's lives.
Ah, the awkward moment of "where do we sit?" We're family after all so we ended up going up about nine rows from the front. Yvette and Susan sat with us. I was glad we could keep them company. My Aunt Yvette is a quiet lady who never assumes she is invited anywhere or even assumes she is officially part of the family. Even though she is.
10:01. The music starts and the casket comes down followed by the rest of my family who had met at the funeral home. I am now kicking myself for not meeting them there because John, me, Yvette and Susan are now three rows back from everyone else. And now the people who aren't family and who sat in the back section are staring at us wondering how we could have been so rude to sit so close to the family when we obviously aren't family...
The priest does his opening spiel. John said he reminded him of the "lost another one to ditech" guy. I believe since none of us stood up at the proper time the priest probably felt that he should fit in every major Catholic teaching into his funeral talk. And he did. He even told us all when to stand up, sit down, and kneel. We were apparently that bad at being Catholic. ;)
Mom and Aunt Mary (not the aunt whose husband died. that's Aunt Sue) got up to do the eulogy. My mom read a scripture (from The New World Translation) about how a body may be withered on the outside, but the man inside is still looking forward to the future. Aunt Mary got up to do her part and said, "Father asked me to write down what I was going to say. I think he was worried I might run overtime. So I wrote it all down." ::holds up a rather large notebook as everyone but the priest laughs:: She said a lot of beautiful things and of course there were some sad parts too. "Bob's been a part of this family for 42 years now, and he's always just....been there. He just kind of hung around, happy to be around his family."
My Uncle had to have both his legs amputated within the last couple years sadly. Heart and circulation problems. My Aunt Mary also said that whenever anyone marveled at the fact that Bob was still alive they always said they could sum up the reason he was in two words - Susan Elwood. Cue the crying throughout the entire audience of people.
Then she recited an Irish blessing (at which point even she started to catch her voice), they played Amazing Grace, and we left. They also played "let there be peace on earth" which got to John because his favorite priest used to make everyone sing it at church when he was little.
The cemetery service was quick. It was windy and frigid out. The priest said a few words and then we all started to drift off to our cars. My Aunt Sue asked if John and I would be going back to Uncle Bill and Aunt Chris' house for lunch. John drove me over there but only stayed a minute. We all had lunch and sat around and chatted. My parents drove me home after because John had to be back to work. It was an interesting and sad day all around.
Aunt Sue made me take food home because she said Bill and Chris would just throw it out. :) And I got to hear some great childhood stories from them all. Not to forget too that all my aunts have now insisted that they are going to my wedding and will even pay for their meals. (which of course I'm not going to allow. The paying, not the attending.) It's nice to know that your family cares that much about you and it's always sad to see them at a funeral but always nice to get together and spend some time listening to one another's lives.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
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