My mother's memorial
It was different than I expected. I got some awesome flower arrangements from Arlene's Flowers here in Richland and got some food at costco. I also bought a ton of beer. In the early morning my sister and my brother and his family went to Einan's Funeral home and picked up my mother's ashes. My sister's urn did not arrive in time so she had to take a temporary one. My brother brought a small metal flask urn and I brought this big wooden clock urn. We all wanted urns that didn't scream "I'M AN URN!". I picked a big wooden clock urn because I thought it fit mom best. It was an urn but it was practical and productive. That was my mom. At the house we had a large crowd that included my immediate family, some of their loved ones, and a dog. moms cat disappeared at that point. We had 14 people crowded into mom's house. It was a tight fit, but not too bad. My brother created this really nice photo slideshow of my mother from way back in the day when she was a kid on up to the last year. We all sat and watched in silence for the most part. Occasionally someone would make a funny comment or admire something about the photos. It was a loving vibe. I sat in the back and tried not to cry. It was hard not to. Noone else was so I felt I needed to keep it contained and let everyone have a good time. It wasn't about me. It was a celebration of a wonderful woman that was difficult to live next to sometimes, but ultimately was so very well respected for her strength of will and solidity of character. After we had all seen the photos my brother put them on repeat and we all visited. Some of us hadn't seen each other in quite some time. We ate and drank a lot. After a few hours everyone except the immediate family went home so we got down to business of cleaning out mom's stuff. My mom had a lot of stuff. I mean she just accumulated stuff over the years like 14 sets of bed linens. She didnt change them that much they just were stored in a closet. Goodwill got a lot of stuff! It is good that a lot could be donated. We still filled up 2 garbage cans though and we didn't even touch the basement yet. In a few weeks my sister will come back and we will finish what we can so we can get the place ready to be painted and cleaned. I am not sure if my sister and I are going to keep the house as a rental or sell it. It is up to her at this point and I don't care either way. I am now starting to look for my own house to buy. I hope I find a place quickly because even if I do it will still take a long time for the paperwork to go through. Can't wait to be moving in January! :P