Well....
Actually I have chosen cremation, so the make up and red gown and robe was for the undertaker, who happens to be a former student who would have loved to see me dead and ugly. Just the thought pushed me up off the bathroom floor and I have recovered quite nicely, without marring the beauty of the red robe and gown. Of course my recovery could have been hastened by the fact that my dear friend in Alabama thought my desire to dress for the undertaker was hilarious. The next time I have a NDE, do you think for a minute that I will tell her? Not on your life. But I still keep my red robe and gown very much at hand.
Not to mention the trowel, etc, JD.
Now do you think y'all could refrain from clouding up MY SB thread with talk of trowels and putty knives and fillers and such. I have put the undertaker off for another day, thanks to my dearest buddy who lives south of me. And to another one who lives to the extreme west of all of us.
I am with you, Pirl.
Scattelogical ramblings and desultory humor - SB Edition
So reports of your imminent demise were exaggerated, Sharon?!
Absolutely.
Never believe anything you read...well, depends on which direction it comes from.
Ahhh, geesh Schick, I thought you were going to say thong......
How about a tattoo, revealed only at your funeral, that says 'I told you I was sick!'??
SB - so glad to see you're so much better for your own SB thread: few get the honor! I did find the idea amusing about looking good for the mortician. That's a good thought for a new thread: Jobs we'd never want.
Schickenlady - very funny and a big surprise to all who come to say good-bye, as though we could hear them!
Just remember that undertakers are the last to let you down.
SL - we posted at the same time.
My departed father-in-law spent winters in Florida, at the beach in Daytona. He'd tell us about some scantily outfitted beach babe and how he couldn't be sure she was wearing anything at all so he stood there and stared for hours. Sure!!!!
Oh. Oh. i was eating black bean chili. Now I have to clean the screen.
Butt Floss???
Shick: You need to tell us more about this tatoo!
Butt Floss and Black Bean Chili on the screen!
I think funerals are for the living but it doesn't have to be a funeral with a dead body present! What about a memorial service?
When I was given less than 24 hours to live I started planning my memorial service, realized I couldn't trust the planning of such an important event to anyone else, disobeyed the doctors and lived instead.
x, C
Shick: I think you need to have a permanent portal for that tatoo!
Good for you Carrie!!
Pirl, you made me laugh about not letting anyone do your hair and makeup. I need to tell you about my Mother. Very independent woman who had set ways and that was that. So...when she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma she went and picked out her own casket, service, prayers to be said, hymns to be sung.
Then we went home and she was supposed to rest, but no! She went in her closet picked out her dress, shoes, and jewelry. Then sat my youngest brother and I down and handed us her make up.
Her exact words were "DO NOT LET THEM PUT THAT GOD-AWFUL RED LIPSTICK ON ME! I LOOK TERRIBLE IN RED... CORAL IS A BETTER COLOR ON ME."
I could not believe this woman, was she really my Mother? She was never a vain person but was sure acting like one and it floored me to the point of forgetting why we were doing this in the first place. In hindsight I now know she did everthing out of love for us kids. We didn't have to do anything when she passed, she had taken care of it all. She loved us enough to lessen our burden during a difficult time when she knew we would need her guidance the most, but would not be here to give it. She was a strong, remarkable woman who has set a great example for me and I am so grateful to have been her daughter.
Sounds like a great mom, Celeste!
And she left you something to smile about besides. A remarkable memory.
Very considerate mother, Celeste.
My mom felt something was really wrong and sat down, wrote what clothes she was to wear and where my dad could find them. Everything was as she wanted but they did the awful harlot red lipstick and I was the first to see her and had that removed immediately. It's enough of a shock but seeing that lipstick was way too much.
There are some people who never looked as good in life as they appeared for their final viewing!
Not according to Coz!
True but many of us gardeners clean up at the end of the day and we're a mess most of the day. I doubt I'd want to wear my bleach splattered clothes for the last viewing though the thought of it is comical. Gardening gloves caked with mud, gardening shoes tied with duct tape, mud on my face, mascara running down my face but NO harlot red lipstick!
I left out one part....you may or may not find this as funny as I did and still do.
My youngest brother is 6 yrs. older than me and gay. Because my Mom was a big woman, 5' 8" and 180lbs. I could not @ 5'4" 120lbs fit in her clothes. My brother is 6' 2" and 180lbs., he got to try on the dresses...my Mother and I laughed so hard Mom peed her pants. He was walking around hip-swinging, twirling the belt, ect....
He was hilarious!!!!!!!!!
No viewings for me! They can look at photos of my garden.
That must have been a sight!
No videos, Pixie?
No videos, wish I had...America's funniest videos here I come!!
Pixie: I bet your brother has some great memories of your Mom.
He did...he passed away 3 yrs. later at the age of 40. I have great memories of both of them.
Both of my parents were cremated, and I hadn't seen them for a few days or week before they died, and I think I would have liked to see them, touch them, but maybe not either.
I was dating a mortician once, and his family lived above the funeral home. One day I went over, and walked into the funeral parlor - and sitting on the table were the ashes of somebody. It was really strange.
I was talking today with a friend about death. We talked about how genes, plants, gardens, memories, and books are all good things that you pass on to the next generation. My father is in the middle of dying - maybe - but the family is sort of getting rid of his stuff. (He's in a place now, will sell his house.) The STUFF that is loaded with memories for me and my siblings stays. The rest is just stuff. x, C
It's funny, when my parents died, I only wanted one of a few ornaments my mom would hang on the tree, a few old ones, that she would hang then the rest of us kids would do the rest. Well, I never did get one, but my sister gave me the silverware we used. I never liked it when I was growing up, but I use it every day now and remember my mom, and now I like it.
Things change in significance, don't they?
It is really important that we can remember those we have lost with humor and warm feelings, and even a laugh out loud. Here is a story for you that is meant to make you LOL. Every time I think of it, I laugh, and I hope you do as you read it. There really is a point to it (I hope).
Many of you know that my husband passed away less than a year ago. He was only ill for about 5 days. He loved music, and was very good with stringed instruments and boy could he ever sing! Over the gazillion years we were married quite often he would be singing and strumming one of his several guitars, and equally often I would join in. He would give me this look and always say: Sharon, you can't sing worth s---, why don't you just go paint a picture!
Years passed, and this was a common occurrence. The Christmas before he died my son gave him a Martin guitar as his gift. He was delighted with it, and if you know instruments, you know the importance of this particular guitar. As he weakened, I would say : "Why don't you play your guitar?" Sometimes he would, and I would join in and the same old "Shar, you can't play worth s---," would follow. It was a 40 year joke.
He died on a Sunday night in April, and the children and I knew that the end was near, we just didn't know how near. The kids, both in their 30's left the CCU to get something to eat. I stayed in his room with him, and since the doctors said to keep talking and touching him I did just that. Finally I ran out of words and just started humming a few words of Bridge Over Troubled Water, his favorite song.....This went on maybe 5 minutes, he was sleeping peacefully, when suddenly he took a deep breath, opened his eyes and looked at me, then he smiled. He of course went immediately back to sleep and did not linger more than an hour or two longer.
I tell you this while laughing, because it is the funniest memory I have, and something that will always make me laugh. My kids love it too.
Even now when I say or do something that my kids know I am not very proficient at doing, they will say, "Mom, you can't sing worth s----, just go paint a picture." And we can all laugh. It is fun to think that might have been his last instructions to me, he was forever giving me instructions....knowing full well that I would do as I pleased.
Every conversation about death that can be sprinkled with humor and laughter is good for all of us. I agree with you who choose a memorial service and pictures of your gardens, because life is both good and bad. One goes hand in hand with the other. It is how we deal with both that counts.
I hope this story doesn't put a damper on the great conversation in this SB thread, I am laughing right along with you, and can't wait for the next funny. ( I am OLD, I can say things like this and get away with it!)
OK, now I'm off to paint a picture.
Not at all, Sharon. Thank you for sharing that. It was heart warming and humorous. Do you sing while you paint??
Victor, my dear.....if you listen, you can hear me all the way to your house. Of course I do.
Absolutely, Schick....you go, girl!! No floss, though.
This message was edited Jan 23, 2008 6:11 PM
Oh. Oh. I wonder what she took out.
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