tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post8774804018382412119..comments2024-01-25T10:40:26.593-08:00Comments on Light, Bright, and Sparkling: A Smooth TransitionDiana Birchallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18291540900938654707noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-26476658875650545512012-01-26T07:54:12.740-08:002012-01-26T07:54:12.740-08:00Dear Diana,
Joel joins me in wishing you comfor...Dear Diana, <br /><br />Joel joins me in wishing you comfort and a sense of completeness on the passing of your mother. <br /><br />The passage from Ecclesiastes is so perfectly apt: and in the miracle of your mother's last ten years of lucidity, the almond tree of her relationship with you and her family did indeed flourish.<br /><br />May your future days be purple and sparkling....<br /><br />Fondly,<br />Elissa and Joel<br /><br />ps: Please tell your friend that the brightest (both in plumage and intelligence) of cardinals abound on the Great Neck peninsula - their song fills my backyard for five months every year. Just saw the possibly largest and most vibrant scarlet one of his species yesterday on a hedge of property where Graucho Marx used to live in the GN sub-village of Kensington, where he appeared, like a Renaissance explorer on a clifftop, to be taking survey of the known world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-38776245404652133532012-01-25T21:15:53.190-08:002012-01-25T21:15:53.190-08:00So beautifully written, such a real and touching a...So beautifully written, such a real and touching account of one of the worst moments of one's life. And of your Mother, too. Thank you.Jay Faheyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07717477224615209245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-49423047707528510312012-01-23T09:14:56.875-08:002012-01-23T09:14:56.875-08:00Diana, I have been doing the Catholic version of t...Diana, I have been doing the Catholic version of this, only second-hand. My step-father died just after Christmas and we have been going through files and files for three weeks. Add to it that he was a retired Marine and the interesting finds just keep coming. I may get to come home tomorrow if the weather cooperates. I am hopeful.<br /><br />I'm sorry for your loss.Susan Kayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599394499288052327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-60624431848556192562012-01-23T09:01:46.402-08:002012-01-23T09:01:46.402-08:00Dear Diana,
I am belated but I wanted to express ...Dear Diana,<br /><br />I am belated but I wanted to express my thanks for sharing so clearly and beautifully your mother's funeral and wake and your experiences during the liminal time a death is. I am glad you felt so at peace. You were strong to be able to bury and honor your mother with dignity and caring, but also with self care. It's good to hear of it. WIshing you all the best.Dianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12396312339372162866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-77592852151142351502012-01-20T03:34:42.429-08:002012-01-20T03:34:42.429-08:00Elaine, I well remember your tumultuous year, and ...Elaine, I well remember your tumultuous year, and how wonderful it was that your mother got to see your new grandchild. Ellen, thanks for the kind words, and I know you'll feel the same and stand up for yourself when confronted with those choices. Curzon, I never saw anything like those wicker coffins, they certainly take the creepiness out, don't they? But I'd rather go a-Viking, too!Diana Birchallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18291540900938654707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-73647311983976304872012-01-20T02:09:09.697-08:002012-01-20T02:09:09.697-08:00Failing a Viking funeral (body placed on funeral p...Failing a Viking funeral (body placed on funeral pyre on longship, ignited, and pushed out to sea), I'd settle for a willow coffin. Beautiful.<br />http://www.wickerwillowcoffins.co.uk/ctussaudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04980750998737123223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-22221131098181608092012-01-19T04:18:12.958-08:002012-01-19T04:18:12.958-08:00I hope it's all right if I commend Diana stron...I hope it's all right if I commend Diana strongly for telling us something of what the funeral people tried to do to her upon the death of her mother. She was perpetually fighting hard not to be outrageously fleeced through singular delusions (about the coffin, ideas of immortal memory and so on) and an attempt to embarrass her into shelling out huge amounts. <br /><br />She courageously resisted by refusing to be ashamed to the point you wrote about it in her blog. She has done a good deed<br />there, by adding a another real story to Jessica Mitford's book and showing how having read her and kept her in mind helps. it's another voice. <br /><br />The laws are all on the side of the funeral industry: they have had their lobbyists hard at work.<br />They know their business too: how to manipulate people<br /><br />I hope I can do the same when my turn comes. I may not be able to because my aunt, my mother's sister, may take control. But I shall and having had Diana's example in front of us will help.<br /><br />EllenEllenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14979942382683140531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-26583487639968216552012-01-19T01:52:35.198-08:002012-01-19T01:52:35.198-08:00Laurel Ann, family resemblances are fascinating, a...Laurel Ann, family resemblances are fascinating, aren't they? And they last for generations, even time out of mind...like Joan Austen-Leigh having the identical nose to Cassandra Austen, senior! Yes, I think my young cousin Joanna does have a resemblance to my mother (her great-aunt), and to me. All the women in this family are the same five feet nothing! But no, the photo wasn't staged, it was natural. Vera, thank you for your sympathetic thoughts...and Curzon, there could be no more beautiful and apt words than those from Ecclesiastes. Thank you for bringing them forward. "And the mourners go about the streets..."Diana Birchallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18291540900938654707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-22850429444380733592012-01-19T01:30:14.034-08:002012-01-19T01:30:14.034-08:00Dear Diana - I found my mother's funeral a joy...Dear Diana - I found my mother's funeral a joyous occasion though I was so distressed at her going. right up to the last moment when she had her stroke she was happy and busy and in her own home for which I am thankful. My ex came and brought daughters and then brand new grandchild safely, a cousin drove miles to be there and we had a lovely tea and chat in the communal sitting room at the sheltered accommodation where my mother had lived. It was a happy day and very fitting. I am glad it all went so well with you as well xxElainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17739410242766153431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-29935626532609567262012-01-19T00:45:58.707-08:002012-01-19T00:45:58.707-08:00From the King James Bible comes the wonderful phra...From the King James Bible comes the wonderful phrase "gone to his long home". Thank you for your beautiful writing, never more so than describing your mother's passing, and the wake and service.<br />Ecclesiastes 12:5<br />Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:ctussaudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04980750998737123223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-18693263176921000382012-01-19T00:00:18.793-08:002012-01-19T00:00:18.793-08:00Diana, what a gentle and true picture you've p...Diana, what a gentle and true picture you've painted, sharing your family and your mother's last peaceful moments and parting with us, thank you! <br /><br />I felt as tough I too was there in spirit, perched on a spare seat at the family wake, listening to your warm stories. I am so glad your mother found the relief and peace in her later years and that you and she ended on such a solid good note. Jut as it should be, just right. <br /><br />Now, get some well-deserved rest!Vera Nazarianhttp://urbangirlvermont.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716833846895246215.post-90121776424707341882012-01-18T23:31:49.068-08:002012-01-18T23:31:49.068-08:00Diana, thanks for sharing your journey and memorie...Diana, thanks for sharing your journey and memories of your trip. I am glad for you and your family that the experience of saying goodbye to your mom was so favorable and memorable. <br /><br />I must add that when I saw the picture of your niece Joanna in the same expression of the photo of your grandmother, I was taken aback with the similarity. One of those serendipitous moments caught on camera. Please don't burst my balloon and tell me it was staged.<br /><br />Thanks again for sharing. Family, good and bad, can be so fulfilling for the big event in life, and the little moments that make up great memories.Laurel Ann (Austenprose)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07569869772159241024noreply@blogger.com