Joyful Transformation

(warning: just meandering down memory lane today)

It is always strange to go to the funeral home and see family that you have not seen in months, sometimes years. Last night was no different. It is getting harder as my aunts and uncles and even my parents just continue to get older. It is amazing to me that as close as my cousin Jennifer and I were growing up we never see each other now, unless it is at the family reunion, or like this. We are awkward around each other, not really having anything in common or anything to say. Last night I noticed that the family had brought some photo albums. I wondered. Would it be there? Uncle Kelly had a favorite practical joke that he pulled on me (and everybody else who would fall for it). It happened when I was about 9 years old. I remembered that my aunt had taken a picture. We were all in the kitchen floor, me in my now wet pajamas…all of us laughing. As I opened the album it was there. I hardly recognized my younger self laughing, but it was me and it was him, laughing and having a great time. When Jennifer walked up she asked me if I found it, and suddenly all of the years melted away and we talked and talked of the things we used to do, the fun we used to have, the trouble we used to cause.

Funerals and wakes at the funeral home are bittersweet experiences. My aunt and both of her daughters were holding up remarkably well, but my Mom and her sister had a really tough time when they first saw the body. And while everyone visited and got reacquainted we all knew it would not be that long till we gathered in this fashion again to tell somebody else goodbye. The cousins who are my age are now becoming grandparents (like me). We are supposed to still be the kids! Why is it when you are with family you think of yourself as the age you were when you all hung out together?

When we got back home I opened the paper to find his obituary. My weekly ad that runs was at the bottom of the page. I thought that was sweet, at least for me. I am posting the scanned and edited version of that page here, just so I will remember it. If you have journeyed with me down memory lane today, thank you. I think sometimes it is important to write down a little of “my story” as Terri says, just to help me remember and to someday give my children and my grandchildren a glimpse into who I was….who I am.