My grandmother's death last week has left me in a reflective mood. She was 97 years old and had lost both her sight and most of her hearing in the last 18 month. Up until that time she was the goingest lady I knew--I want to be like her when I grow up. I'm so grateful that she was a part of my life.
For this blog I want to reflect a little on funerals. Funerals are opportunities to commemorate and celebrate someone's life. When someone dies unexpectedly and at an early age many funerals are sad and the "why?" factor needs to be addressed. When someone has lived a long full life a funeral can be, well. . .if not exactly fun then at least satisfying (I struggled to find the right word and this is the best that I can do).
In my opinion a funeral should be all about the deceased, but in preparing to attend the funeral I had a meltdown and made it all about me. My grandmother's family is spread all across the United States. The Black's aren't exactly warm and fuzzy and so many years can go where we don't see each other. I'm not sure why it became so important but on Wednesday night I wanted to make a good impression on my far-flung relatives (ok! I'll be honest; I didn't want them to think "Wow, Jill Looks terrible; she's really let herself go). Anyway, at 8:00 p.m. I braved the cold and dark as I sallied forth to find an outfit to wow the Fam. I'm happy with the skirt and sweater that I found but I'm puzzled by my reaction. I didn't care what everyone else wore I just looked forward to seeing everyone. I'm sure that they didn't care what I wore either. I admit that sometimes I'm a little crazy.
Following most Utah LDS funerals the local Relief Society Sisters provide a luncheon for the family. The menu is set in stone and is rarely deviated from--ham, funeral potatoes, salad, roll, and cake. I'm willing to bet that if you attended 10 funeral luncheons a week that you would find relatively the same menu at every one. Is there something chemically or emotionally comforting about this food combination or is the menu simply a solid tradition. Don't get me wrong, the food was delicious and I really appreciate the wonderful sisters that prepared it but I wonder how this particular menu came to be designated "funeral luncheon food."
For this blog I want to reflect a little on funerals. Funerals are opportunities to commemorate and celebrate someone's life. When someone dies unexpectedly and at an early age many funerals are sad and the "why?" factor needs to be addressed. When someone has lived a long full life a funeral can be, well. . .if not exactly fun then at least satisfying (I struggled to find the right word and this is the best that I can do).
In my opinion a funeral should be all about the deceased, but in preparing to attend the funeral I had a meltdown and made it all about me. My grandmother's family is spread all across the United States. The Black's aren't exactly warm and fuzzy and so many years can go where we don't see each other. I'm not sure why it became so important but on Wednesday night I wanted to make a good impression on my far-flung relatives (ok! I'll be honest; I didn't want them to think "Wow, Jill Looks terrible; she's really let herself go). Anyway, at 8:00 p.m. I braved the cold and dark as I sallied forth to find an outfit to wow the Fam. I'm happy with the skirt and sweater that I found but I'm puzzled by my reaction. I didn't care what everyone else wore I just looked forward to seeing everyone. I'm sure that they didn't care what I wore either. I admit that sometimes I'm a little crazy.
Following most Utah LDS funerals the local Relief Society Sisters provide a luncheon for the family. The menu is set in stone and is rarely deviated from--ham, funeral potatoes, salad, roll, and cake. I'm willing to bet that if you attended 10 funeral luncheons a week that you would find relatively the same menu at every one. Is there something chemically or emotionally comforting about this food combination or is the menu simply a solid tradition. Don't get me wrong, the food was delicious and I really appreciate the wonderful sisters that prepared it but I wonder how this particular menu came to be designated "funeral luncheon food."
2 comments:
You are a beauty queen, I am certain that they were all VERY impressed. Funerals are pretty weird deals, in Saugerties NY we served baked Ziti and here in New Albany IN they had finger sandwiches at the last church funeral. You never know! Love you!!
You look amazing mom. I'm sure you chose a good outfit too.
I like funeral food, but don't get any ideas.
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