After a year we finally completed the celebration of life for my dad. It was a daunting task and I’d be lying if I said it went off without a hitch.
I spent most of the week before going through old pictures to put in a video. Fortunately, he had scanned the old prints, so I was able to go through digital files. I would still get a bit distracted by the memories. I decided to use a program that I’d never used before to do the video. Thankfully it was easy to use.
Dad’s favorite music was Jazz (big band) and Classical, so I used some jazz tunes for the service and my niece sang a song. The biggest part of the service was people talking about him. It was nice to hear their memories.
I’m the one who insisted on holding this. Dad was a huge part of our community for 37 years as sometimes the only doctor in town. He was on the school board and helped with many community events.
My biggest test of the day came when we got to the cemetery. He had been cremated and as an exit plan, so we weren’t inundated with guests that we didn’t want to talk with I planned to have his urn buried at the cemetery where he and my mom went to high school, about 45 miles south of Oakley. We got there only to find that no grave had been opened. I made the decision to not wait as it was a Saturday, and it would have taken the rest of the day if we could get someone to do the work. As it turned out acceptance of the situation was the best option as the person who was supposed to dig the grave had left for the weekend.
We had a late lunch and headed back to Oakley. When I finally got home, I posted the video on FaceBook and was so tired that I went to lie down. It didn’t take me long to go to sleep, as I was exhausted. However, after a short time, I was awakened by the sound of my phone. I was up and over to mom’s house to spend a little time with the family.
Whenever we deal with family tensions often run high. Our family is no different and sometimes it takes every tool in my toolbox to deal with them. This day didn’t require me to use many.
We all have issues to work out in our lives when it comes to family they can be deeply buried and hurt intensely.
Do you have some past experiences that you’d like to take a look at? Come out and meet my healing herd and see if we can unearth them together. Connect with me here.
This one’s for dad – Moonlight Serenade.
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Onward!
