A Road Less Travelled

 The funeral happened at the small country church that Grandma and Grandpa attended. (Historical note: This happens to be the same church where my parents got married.) It was crowded enough that they put up folding chairs in the back, a few people were standing in the back without a seat, and the only seat I could find was in the very front row. It was the best funeral I’ve ever been to.

 I’d forgotten to bring in my spare packs of tissues, but Eva and I shared the pack I did have, and it sufficed. There was even a tissue left at the end of the funeral.

 My grandpa planned out his funeral ten years ago, after having a stroke and thinking he was going to die soon. He included hymns to be sung, a request for his grandchildren to all sing a song together, a charge to the family, the topic and length of the funeral sermon, and a note reminding us to contact Ladies Aid to provide the lunch afterwards.

 This was all explained, we sang a hymn, and then the grandchildren got up to sing “I’ll Fly Away”. Thankfully, this was a fairly low pressure assignment. As Theresa pointed out, we could have all broken down and started sobbing in the middle and it would have been fine. I think it actually came off pretty well, especially when you consider we had about twenty minutes to practice together.

 After this we settled in to hear stories of my grandfather’s life. I was sitting right across the aisle from my grandmother and my mother and her siblings, so I was never quite sure if I was crying just because I was watching them. Except of course, when we were all laughing. I enjoyed hearing about my grandfather throwing a cat out the window (it was on his bed when it wasn’t even supposed to be in the house) and how he managed to nudge together another couple (I’d never thought of my grandfather as a Yenta before…). I think my favorite story, though, was from back when he was a single young man, and he told his sister he was not interested in going out with my grandmother because ‘her feet were too big’.

 I think that was the closest I ever felt to my grandfather, sitting and listening to stories of his life. It was sad because it was over, and because of the people closest to him that he’d left behind. But it was wonderful, because even with all the hard parts, it was a really good life, and it was over now and he’d gone Home.

  So we listened to the charge he’s left for us, that when the time came for us all to be  gathered together in Heaven, there would be no gaps in the family, that we’d all be ready to go when the time came. And we filed out under the blue sky to stand by his grave as the funeral came to end.  It was goodbye for now, and time to go eat lunch, courtesy of Ladies Aid.