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I wanted to give an update on where things are. As per her wishes, my mother’s body was cremated yesterday. We will plan to bury her ashes in the cemetary in Medicine Hat where her other family members are resting. She grew up in a small town near there and they moved to Medicine Hat when she was a teenager. We are having a small “celebration of life” service this coming Monday at 1:30 in the Red Deer Royal Canadian Legion (branch no 35) just in the off chance anyone who reads this blog can make it.
Dan flew to Calgary last night and will be coming to Red Deer today. It will be good to have him here. We’re going for brunch at Phil’s, where I used to work and where Mom and I (or all three of us) would go for a coffee when we visited. Dan’s parents have been with me for many of the events that transpired this week (more in a later post) and my Aunt and Uncle, at whose house we are staying, have been too kind and helpful for words. I have spoken to many people who knew my mother including her co-workers, close friend, and even her postman called today. It turns out he would come up for a cup of tea and a chat every now and then and today he told me she was “the sweetest woman in the world”. My co-workers and friends have all sent me very kind messages of support as well and they are greatly appreciated.
We are starting to take care of her various accounts (as an avid eBayer, she had several credit cards!) which is a surprising amount of work. Nevertheless, she was incredibly organized and we think she had a premonition something might happen since she emailed me all her information on accounts and monthly transactions before her first hopsital appointment last week.
The question you all want answered is how I am doing with the baby. Everything seems fine so far, I have been trying to eat (of course I have lost my apetite a bit) and although I didn’t sleep much the other nights I did succeed in having a very good sleep last night (first time since Sunday). I should be feeling the baby move anytime from now so it has been an exciting thing to anticipate. It is a very hard thing to know my mom will not be around to see her grandchild(ren) but I have many good memories of all the things she did for me and I am very glad I told her in September I was expecting. Actually she is the only one I let in on the plan way back in April and she wasn’t surprised at all when I told her.
I just noticed the sidebar for this page is all messed up in IE6 on my aunt’s PC, not sure why as I’ve never noticed a problem on my work PC before. Will look into it when I get back.
Tyler H. | October 13th, 2006 @ 11:36 pm
I like how people are putting a positive spin on funerals these days. I’ll never forget how at my uncle’s funeral (he committed suicide), the priest didn’t know him so he let the family tell the stories and speak of his life. Then he gave a message about how we all need to be there for each other to deal with the harsh reality of his death. It was so good.
I didn’t know you worked at Phil’s! There’s one right near my house!
karen | October 14th, 2006 @ 2:24 pm
Yes I agree – what you describe is so much more appropriate than a stranger saying some empty words about your relative. We found some nice photos of her when she was younger and will have some of her paintings and the things she sewed on display.
The Phil’s is a block away from my mom’s place and I worked as a hostess on Sat and Sun morning. Do you remember the awful uniforms? They were the ugliest things I have ever worn. Dan and I are going there for breakfast today.
Tyler H. | October 14th, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
I’ve only been to Phil’s once a week after I moved here, with my downstairs neighbor and my friend that moved out of this apartment. What we found truly remarkable was that Phil’s may be a dumpy family restaurant, but they were equipped with several brand new iMacs! That’s a booming economy for you.
I hope the memorial service goes really well.