Bury Me at Wounded Knee

So Elle has a post up about her dad and his funeral planning.

Is that morbid?

I don't think so.

Death is a natural part of life and ya'll know I've planned the HELL out of life... why wouldn't I plan death?

And I come by it honestly.

My Gram was a great planner. 

One day when she was, oh, 85 or so, she and her girlfriend got gussied up, made reservations for lunch and headed over to the local funeral parlor. 

She picked her service & her casket.  She ordered the headstone.  (Her husband passed away in 1972 and she wasn't convinced she wouldn't marry again so she was very careful about the headstone.  And she, unlike so many, did consider she would live into the 2000's.  So many headstones with the name, birth date, and 19xx on the death date side.... oops.) 

A blue casket.  Baby blue.  She always loved blue.

She planned her service... the music and the readings.  She wasn't interested in fussy or dramatic.  She wanted simple and memorable and touching.  She didn't go so far as to pick an outfit but she requested a nice shade of pink... she knew what she looked good in... and something that would look good with the baby blue casket.

When it was actually time to make her arrangements the casket she requested was no longer available (clearance!  She would have loved that.) so she got a free upgrade (also... would have made her very happy). 

And at the viewing I laughed out loud.  Because she was right.  She did look good in pink and the casket was pretty classy.

I hope I am as well prepared.  When Hot goes I'm taking his ashes to several places....  the basin, the Blackfoot and maybe down the Smith (oh... he'd be ticked to know if I went without him).  If my dad is ashes I'm sprinkling him off the bluff (by the Indian grave) over the Marias.  My mom is trickier....  She loves the wild but also where she grew up.  She's going to go some to the wheat fields, some to the Marias, some to the horse pasture/places she loved to ride, and some to the green places she grew up.

Me.  I want to be recycled as much as possible.  Everyone heard that, right?  I will haunt your ass if you don't donate my organs and corneas and tissues.  Then cremate me and scatter me in the basin or over the Marias or under the apple tree.  Put some of me in the soil by my beloved peonies. 

To The Farm

So the big plan for June 6-7 was to go to the farm. My brother & sis-in-law were getting their vows blessed so their children won't be bastards. Good plan. I was a little uneasy being in church with all of them... I just wasn't sure where the lightning was going to strike.

The plan was to leave by 11-ish on Saturday but with the snow on Friday we couldn't mow on Saturday morning and Big Blue Eyes was staring at me at 6:05 saying, "It mornin'?? Go grandma's now??" so I got up, frosted the cake, and started loading.

Hot is still sickly (it has been a week... get better already) so he was moving slow.

The kids played on Saturday... Tuff played on the swing until the backs of her knees were raw. Another little boy was there.... he will be 7 on August 6th. The boys had a blast and completely entertained each other. They made a fort in the old school bus and ran wild through the shelter belt. Hot took them over to the pond to play..... Tuff got to pet the kitties at the barn....

Sunday we were up early and went to church and they blessed the vows... it was lovely and quick and the kids were really good. I mean really good. And everyone said how wonderful it was to have little ones in church again and they were all wistful.

Then coffee and rolls in the church basement.... a time-honored tradition. It was disturbing to realize they have the same wood paneling down there that we have in our house. The rolls & muffins & pastries were amazing.... a whole giant selection of homemade stuff and a really delicious bunch of fruit. Then back to the farm... the roads were muddy and kind of miserable and the van is a muddy mess now.

Big ham dinner. Then we all hung out on the lawn and used the furminator on the various dogs while Sarge got a bath with tomato juice... oh, yeah, Sarge made friends with one of those interesting black & white "kitties" with the fluffy tails. All that furminating made it look like several small fluffy animals had been sacrificed in the yard. Ew.

Hot cut down a tree for mom and gave his professional opinion on the beetle infestation in the shelter belt. The boys ran around like crazy and tried very hard to be nice to the little tag-along sister. Then they were climbing the tree in the front yard.... really high.... and singing "We are the monkey brothers. We eat bananas." and you can imagine how THAT went over. We didn't leave until 5:30 or later. The kids were exhausted and Tuff's legs hurt. She was asleep in about 1/4 of a mile... the only reason she lasted that long was Grandma sent some snack mix and she was busy picking the chocolate chips out of it to eat. Then we got home and unpacked and had a snack and watched a bit of tv and went to bed. Fortunately, the house was pretty cleaned up so it wasn't overwhelming. I did some laundry last night and will do some folding tonight and we should be in ok shape.

Corn Huskers

Every moment is a teaching moment. (That's what my mom says... here she is in action.)

No More Dark.

Mid-February is hard for me. By February the weather is starting to get to me. I crave sunlight & sandals. My grandmother’s birthday is February 22nd and I miss her every day but I miss her the most at Christmas time and her birthday. The baby we lost (that sounds so odd but I don’t know how else to refer to s/he) was due around the 16th. I take comfort that, based on how late Sweet Boy was, the “lost baby” would have been born on Grandma’s birthday. She would have loved that. I’m sure she is holding that baby in heaven right now.

Needless to say, I am glad February is the shortest month and nothing makes me happier than seeing March. No more leaving home for work in the dark. No more getting home after work in the dark. No more playing ball with the dog in the dark. No more dark. I understand why the ancients celebrated spring with such joy…. I think I will get off the computer and go do a little celebrating myself. I might even invite my husband for a little Bauccian (sp?) celebration of fertility….. I have a bottle of wine I’ve been saving for a special occasion… this might just be it.
Here’s to Spring.