What a week..nothing happened to us…but the world has come tumbling down around some of our friends. Cancer and Deaths seem to be running rampant here in Minnesota at the moment.
The latest was a phone call from my other baby brother. He told Far Guy that his Father in Law died. “She who sees robins first” is now an orphan. She went right from a younger generation to the older generation in one day. I believe her Dad was 96 years old or there about.
My Mom’s roommate from the Nursing Home who was approaching 104 died.. when you get that old most of your friends have passed on.
If you are in “the home” this time of year and get the flu your chances of survival are not real great.
Cancer sucks. A fellow down the lake succumbed to cancer..another fellow was moved into a hospice facility..another is beginning his hospice journey..he said “I will not get any better.” Soon there will be more widows for the “widows club.” I cannot even begin to imagine how helpless the wives must feel when cancer reaches out and grabs their loved ones.
Death and Taxes..that is about the only thing we can count on in this life.
Recently I was visiting with a few of my cousins ( Kathy and Geraldine), Aunt Anna and my Mom. Somehow we got on the subject of Funerals… I said “I am being cremated..because I don’t want anyone standing next to my casket saying..Gosh she looks good..OR my goodness she must have had a real tough time at the end.” My Aunt shared that she had an aversion to worms..at which time I sang “The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out.” We all laughed. I think you can laugh when it is your own death that you are talking about..other peoples deaths must be taken more seriously:)
The pretty picture is Echinacea ‘White Swan’.
My mum and I used to do the who saw or heard the Robin first. No I do it alone may she R.I.P ! There are years where it seems lots of people you know are passing and other years all is alive and well ! Both my parents have gone now as has all my grandparents and some aunts and uncles ! But for ever one that passen on theres always another born ! The circle of life ! Have a wonderful day !
ReplyDeletePrayers go out to those you love who are suffering. My dad lived to 95; first he lost all his friends, but what really ticked him off, some of the trees he planted when he was a young man were dying. We used to laugh that you're almost as old as dirt, when you out live your trees!!!
ReplyDeleteI, too, am thinking of cremation. There is an old Burt Lancaster movie where the grandchildren lauch his body in a viking funeral and one chld says, as Mr Lancaster is set out to sea in true viking style, No worms, Grandpa.
ReplyDeleteIf you get a chance watch The Rock of Gibraltar...I probably spelled that wrong.
I remember that song. I wonder if young kids still sing it today. Good point you made - - - that we can joke about our deaths but not others. It's good to plan it out before we can't - - - saves our family time and energy - - - and gives us the songs and pictures we want when they say their final good byes - - - here on earth.
ReplyDeleteWhen we made out our will, we both decided we would be cremated. So much less messy, it seems to me. Both of my parents were cremated and when my mother died, we mixed their ashes together. Although my mom was around for 14 years after Daddy died, it was a very moving ceremony for the six of their children.
ReplyDeleteI think it's wonderful to have your parents around for so many years, to reach their nineties. I have no experience of that. But it does seem to happen in clumps when people die. So sorry to hear it.
I became an "orphan" at 36. The reality that this life is only temporary really hit me then. Ya just never know when it will be your time. Sad, but such a part of real life. Why is it that deaths seem to happen in clusters? It always helps to have a sense of humor. Your post inspired me to write my own thoughts on the subject on my blog today.
ReplyDeleteI become more concerned as the first cousins start to become cancer patients.Losing a friend in a short period of time was reality to it's fullest. A younger guy that I work with at school is my latest prayer patient.
ReplyDeleteI became an orphan on 14th December. My Dad suddenly and unexpectedly passed on. He was the last of his generation in my family so I am now the oldest generation.
ReplyDeleteYesterday saw the start of a new generation in my family. My first great-grandchild was born. Too late for Dad to become the first living great-great grandparent our family would have had. Dad would have been 90 this month.
I became an orphan, the oldest generation and a great-grandparent all within a month and at the ripe old age of ...... 60! The circle of life continues in our family.
I remember that song too. Lots of funerals around here too....we go to them and look at people our own age (that we haven't seen in a while) and comment on how much they've aged....then I look in the mirror.
ReplyDeleteCremation for me too. My Dad was cremated. He died on his sailboat, and my sister came out after the birth of her first child, and we all went out in that boat and spread some of his ashes in the ocean. Others are spread in places he loved, and some are spread here.
ReplyDeleteMy MIL who is 81 said that every time the phone rings she is expecting to hear the news of a friend's death. Everytime she opens the paper someone she knows has passed away - but she said, "That's what happens when we get to be this age, I guess."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you ended with some humor. And the picture. Flowers always help. I was researching hospice today, so some of my thoughts are in the same direction. I'm supposed to be "old" now, but we still have our mothers alive, but fading.
ReplyDeleteWe talk about these things periodically in our family...the older you get, the more you see death...and it's always difficult to see some one who has had this loss recently...
ReplyDeleteI'm sayin'!!! I was just sayin' to Farm Boy last night that I can't seem to keep enough Sympathy cards in the house anymore. Guess that's what happens with age. Mama never warned me 'about that one!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the devil is workin' overtime these days. I've never heard of so much sickness.
I do hope your Friday the Thirteenth is a lucky one sweetie!
God bless and have a terrific weekend!!! :o)
You are right about the death and taxes... and it will happen to all of us and all of our fuzzy friends. It doesn't make it any easier knowing that. Knock on wood (on Friday the 13th, no less) our family is doing quite well considering their ages. My dad and step-father-in-law are both 90 and MIL is 89. We have concerns about step FIL as he has had some medical issues and just lacks the energy and motivation to do anything. He's a sharp old guy and it is so sad to see him so beaten down.
ReplyDeleteTake care of you and yours and have a great weekend.
A neighbor of ours died yesterday, cancer, he was 48. Cancer is a horrible death. But there are other ways to die out there that are just as bad. Going to sleep and not waking up...priceless.
ReplyDeleteIf this is too rude, Connie, please remove.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Sorry to hear about the deaths. The older we get the more familiar we become. I'm going for cremation, too. My son keeps teasing me that if he becomes rich in the meantime he's going to have my ashes made into a diamond (they can do that these days, apparently) because I just LOVE this old country song called "I'm Just An Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Gunna Be a Diamond Some Day)" by John Anderson. Happy, happy song like one of my other favorites "Don't Worry, Be Happy"--LOL! I know. I can be so annoyingly cheerful. ;)
ReplyDeleteA run of unfortunate passings can get us on a downer. You mention widows but some of my male friends have a terrible time to deal with the loss of their partners. It's not easy for anybody. I will be thinking of you and the losses you are experiencing at this time. One of the best things you can do is write about it...blog.
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