Each funeral that I have attended the person has been cremated. In the UK we go to the crematorium. It's really ghastly when the coffin slides behind the curtain......it is the final moment. I have seen, many times, on T.V. and in movies graveside services where the coffin is slowly lowered into the ground but have never witnessed it firsthand, until today. It is surreal. The procession of people walking to the grave. The heartbroken family members unaware that their feet are even moving. The noise that the earth makes as the loved ones shovel the dirt onto the coffin, their shovels upside down to show that this is something that they do not want to do. Watching the coffin disappear from sight.
A very dear friend said good bye to her Daddy today and she was amazing. As an only child and caregiver to both her parents for the last couple of years she stood before us and eulogised her own father. How do you do that? Her heart was breaking yet through her tears she painted a picture of a man that truly new the meaning of the word, Daddy.
We, all my friends and I, have reached the point in our lives when we attend more funerals than we do weddings. A milestone we could all do without.
May your pain lessen, sweet friend and the memories help you to soar above the hurting.
2 comments:
I didn't realize there were so many cremations in the UK. Definitely more common here in the US to bury or put a body in a mausoleum than to cremate. Although my paternal grandfather was cremated and my father took his remains back to Latvia and scattered them on the land he grew up on. My father wants to be cremated and scattered across Latvia as well. I've been to more funerals than I can count on my hands. I've lost all my grandparents and great-aunts & great-uncles. I'm praying that is quite a few years before I have to attend another one.
Sending you a huge hug. My dad is 71 and Kerri's only remaining grandparent (we lost three in the last four years). I hope we have many more weddings, birthdays, and graduations to go to before the next funeral.
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