Farewell, Aunt Lil

[dawn_felagund]

Bobby's great aunt, Aunt Lil, died on Tuesday at the age of 86. It was one of those long-time-coming and almost merciful deaths: She had been suffering from severe dementia for the past few years and had recently broken her hip. I've known Aunt Lil (and her husband Uncle Frank--he died back in '08) since Bobby and I started dating. Without children

Comments

[lindahoyland]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I won't go to viewings either.

[huinare]

I'm sorry to hear of yours and Bobby's loss.

I also can understand your reservations about dogma-oriented funeral services and am glad the minister approached it in a more personal way.

____________

And after reading all the comments above, I am relieved to hear that there are 'green burials' and must resolve to find out more about them. I've always thought I'd go for cremation, but only because the idea of being shut away from all natural cycles in a protective box was so unpalatable to me.

[hhimring]

She sounds like a person it would have been great to know!

[ithilwen]

I'm sorry for your family's loss. Aunt Lil sounds like she was a hell of a woman, and definitely a person who'll be missed.

[engarian]

I am so sorry for Bobby and your loss, she sounds as if she would certainly be my kind of woman. I love women who are strong in heart and spirit so that they will allow the world to acknowledge them as well deserved.

Funerals and viewings are more for the living than the dead. and people have such varied reactions to death. Viewings or funeral masses can help those who are left reconcile the absence of their loved one with the thoughts that they are well cared for and that they did the best possible for the deceased.

Although the idea of a green burial appeals to me in concept, I have such extreme claustrophobia that I am still requesting to be fried and scattered. I'll fertilize the soil in that way and allow myself to travel onward on the sky road. With luck, I'll meet people as interesting as Aunt Lil.

- Erulisse (one L)