0.o Teh fuck....?
As I posted about last month, my uncle passed away. Now, he lived in an assisted living facility, and my grandma was his legal guardian since he wasn't legally competent to care for himself.
When he passed, grandma wanted to have a full funeral for him, a Christian burial preceded by a viewing and a wake, because in her mind, that's what's proper, and anything else just isn't done. She couldn't afford it, though, and after much discussion and tears, she agreed to have him cremated and brought back home to be buried next to his sister, my aunt, who passed a way two years ago. She makes the arrangements, and decides that, to honor his passing, the family will have a memorial service on Labor Day weekend, as that's when most of us will be in town. (Except me...bah....)
So, arrangements are made. Uncle is going to be cremated, and grandma will pick him up when she goes to finish cleaning out his house, and whatnot. This is delayed when we found out my cousin died last week, she wanted to be there for that side of the family, and she called the necessary people to say she'd be delayed, etc, etc.
I call my mom today, just to check in, see how everyone's doing, and she says those dreaded words "I've got some bad news...."
Fark.
Yeah, turns out the crematorium lost my Uncle's ashes!!
As in, they had them one day, and they were gone the next. And, from what I can tell, are just scratching their butts, going "dur...?" whenever my grandma, or anyone from my uncle's facility calls to find out just what the fuck is going on up there!
Grandma is beyond upset and pissed. Grandma had to set aside a very big, personal belief because she couldn't go through with giving my uncle the burial she wanted. And now this mess has probably hurt a part of her in a way I don't think anyone will fully fathom. And the rest of us are all in various degrees of wtf-ness and pissiness.
Me? due to what I study for a living, and what I like to read, immediately thought of This place and shivered a little inside (Yes, worst possible case scenario, I know, but my mind's been following that path for quite some time because of everything that's happened this year...)
I keep this to myself, though. But grandma's already upset, and worried that when she does finally get ashes, how will she know they're her son's? She's having serious misgivings about the cremation, now, and it's hard to calm her down, according to my mom.
Mom's upset about this, and aside from talking to grandma, she's trying to be there for my godmother (who is the grandmother of the cousin who passed away last week). She took her out for coffee, just to let her vent, since she was holding together that family while she was there last week. It's pretty much a certainty it was an OD, they're just waiting on toxicology. But now noise is being made that someone deliberately gave him bad drugs, so another police investigation is possibly being opened, and there's talk of negligent homicide charges, or something of the like, which is upsetting that side of the family because they won't release the body until the officials are satisfied. We just want to lay him to rest, so his siblings and mother can start to heal. Gaaah...
Seriously, fates, dieties, higher powers: Can you please leave my family be for a while? Please...? Pretty please....?
buh...
When he passed, grandma wanted to have a full funeral for him, a Christian burial preceded by a viewing and a wake, because in her mind, that's what's proper, and anything else just isn't done. She couldn't afford it, though, and after much discussion and tears, she agreed to have him cremated and brought back home to be buried next to his sister, my aunt, who passed a way two years ago. She makes the arrangements, and decides that, to honor his passing, the family will have a memorial service on Labor Day weekend, as that's when most of us will be in town. (Except me...bah....)
So, arrangements are made. Uncle is going to be cremated, and grandma will pick him up when she goes to finish cleaning out his house, and whatnot. This is delayed when we found out my cousin died last week, she wanted to be there for that side of the family, and she called the necessary people to say she'd be delayed, etc, etc.
I call my mom today, just to check in, see how everyone's doing, and she says those dreaded words "I've got some bad news...."
Fark.
Yeah, turns out the crematorium lost my Uncle's ashes!!
As in, they had them one day, and they were gone the next. And, from what I can tell, are just scratching their butts, going "dur...?" whenever my grandma, or anyone from my uncle's facility calls to find out just what the fuck is going on up there!
Grandma is beyond upset and pissed. Grandma had to set aside a very big, personal belief because she couldn't go through with giving my uncle the burial she wanted. And now this mess has probably hurt a part of her in a way I don't think anyone will fully fathom. And the rest of us are all in various degrees of wtf-ness and pissiness.
Me? due to what I study for a living, and what I like to read, immediately thought of This place and shivered a little inside (Yes, worst possible case scenario, I know, but my mind's been following that path for quite some time because of everything that's happened this year...)
I keep this to myself, though. But grandma's already upset, and worried that when she does finally get ashes, how will she know they're her son's? She's having serious misgivings about the cremation, now, and it's hard to calm her down, according to my mom.
Mom's upset about this, and aside from talking to grandma, she's trying to be there for my godmother (who is the grandmother of the cousin who passed away last week). She took her out for coffee, just to let her vent, since she was holding together that family while she was there last week. It's pretty much a certainty it was an OD, they're just waiting on toxicology. But now noise is being made that someone deliberately gave him bad drugs, so another police investigation is possibly being opened, and there's talk of negligent homicide charges, or something of the like, which is upsetting that side of the family because they won't release the body until the officials are satisfied. We just want to lay him to rest, so his siblings and mother can start to heal. Gaaah...
Seriously, fates, dieties, higher powers: Can you please leave my family be for a while? Please...? Pretty please....?
buh...