Well I did say I would be irregular - I am true to my word...so 2 months down the line, I feel the urge to blog once more.
Yesterday was memorable, my Great Grandmothers funeral.
I wept when told of her death, she was almost 102 and had a long, healthy, productive life - so after a day of mopping around and feeling sorry for myself, I set about getting on with organising my family to attend the funeral. I arranged days off from school for the children, nagged the bigger ones to make their apologies at work and college, made sure that work was aware that I would be away, asked my fab friend to pop in to check on the dogs, got all the black coats and hats dry cleaned, stitched new buttons into empty spaces on said coats, polished shoes, filled the car with petrol and ... BIG mistake, took the wretched thing through the local car wash. As I left the car wash, things seemed noisier than usual and there was definitely less power than I am used to. Took hubby with me for a short ride to check that I was not imagining it - I wasn't !! So, with only a few hours to spare, went online and arranged a hire car.
Still on track the morning of the funeral, I collected the hire car, swung by the local cop shop to collect eldest daughters mobile phone ( she had left it in a taxi over the weekend ) and made for home to collect the rest of the tribe. Mike drove his car with youngest son aboard and the hire car was just for us girls ( whoopee ).
Congratulating myself on my organisational skills and the great way I had coped with this emotional fortnight so well, I had lunch with the extended family at the local pub opposite the church and then crossed the road with the whole clan to say 'goodbye' to Great Gran - still thinking how well everything was going, how smart my family looked, how polite yet confident our children were being etc, I positioned myself next to my mother to provide her with some support during the service. Still fine - bit of a chat with Mum and Dad, little joke with Sister Liz behind me, encouraging smile for Lucy who was looking a little sad and then the first hymn started and I dissolved completely - Mum held MY hand and was a tower of strength, a rock, whilst I cried like a baby through the second hymn, the eulogy (beautifully delivered by my Father), the prayers, the sermon AND the third and final hymn. The day has taught me two things, i)I still have much to learn from my mother and ii) pride comes before a fall.
Still, Great Gran had a great send off - no more than she deserved - and as Mike said at the end of a very draining day, it's a shame she couldn't be there to see everyone, she would have loved it !!!
