I hate bad news.
OK - I think it's about official. My relatives are more likely to die the week after Thanksgiving than at any other time of the year. My dad passed about a week after Thanksgiving back in 2000; my dad's father did the same a year later and tonight we found out that my mother's father just passed away a few hours ago. Now we wait to find out what the funeral arrangements will be.
When my mother's mom passed in 2004 it was about 2.5 weeks until they had the funeral. In Taiwan the time between death and the funeral can be anywhere from 2 weeks to a month depending on what it's "ideal" to. This is based on names, the phase of the moon, color of a dog's hair - you know all of those crazy things (and yes - the body lays in the house until they are ready for the service). And as luck would have it 2 weeks puts it just before Christmas and anytime after puts it on Christmas or close to New Years - not exactly the easiest time to book a last minute flight.
I guess on a good note I at least had the honor to meet my mother's parents several times while they were alive. Considering they lived in Taiwan and we in the states, this was no small task mind you. Though I couldn't speak a word of the dialect they used; we connected on a simple bond of family. I wish I could have conversed fluently in words with them. To hear in detail their lives, my historical inheritance, but I was glad to settle for the time I had to hear the tenor and beat of their voices in person and to share my delight in just being there with them. Who needs words anyway? They always fail you at those moments. A loss for words, no words could describe, beyond words - catch phrases we use to describe a moment in time where words are useless because what transpires, the moment, are diminished by words.
When my mother's mom passed in 2004 it was about 2.5 weeks until they had the funeral. In Taiwan the time between death and the funeral can be anywhere from 2 weeks to a month depending on what it's "ideal" to. This is based on names, the phase of the moon, color of a dog's hair - you know all of those crazy things (and yes - the body lays in the house until they are ready for the service). And as luck would have it 2 weeks puts it just before Christmas and anytime after puts it on Christmas or close to New Years - not exactly the easiest time to book a last minute flight.
I guess on a good note I at least had the honor to meet my mother's parents several times while they were alive. Considering they lived in Taiwan and we in the states, this was no small task mind you. Though I couldn't speak a word of the dialect they used; we connected on a simple bond of family. I wish I could have conversed fluently in words with them. To hear in detail their lives, my historical inheritance, but I was glad to settle for the time I had to hear the tenor and beat of their voices in person and to share my delight in just being there with them. Who needs words anyway? They always fail you at those moments. A loss for words, no words could describe, beyond words - catch phrases we use to describe a moment in time where words are useless because what transpires, the moment, are diminished by words.