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Jul. 10th, 2003 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charlottezwebThe CBW's maternal grandmother has been very ill for quite a while with assorted cancers, and has been expected to pass on at any moment for the past two weeks. Last weekend, we packed up and headed to her home town (about two hours away) to join the family bedside vigil. I didn't understand until we arrived that she was not in a hospital but in the living room of one of the aunts. So for two days, we stayed with his aunt and kept watch with a good part of the rest of the family, listening to her struggle for breath and administering morphine as needed. Periodically, there would be an alarming silence and we would wait and watch to see if she would start breathing again.
We left Sun and she died Sun night.
On Mon, we drove back down after work to meet with the family and go to the wake on Tues and the funeral on Weds. As we were driving around looking for a hotel, my car broke down and I had us towed to a garage and then dropped at a hotel. Tues morning, one of the uncles picked us up and took us to the hotel where the family was staying and we napped and had some funeral meats for lunch. The wake was just around the corner at a funeral home and we were the only group there, luckily, since we took up the whole building. (The CBW's mother has 10 siblings and her mother, the one who passed, had 10 siblings--lots and lots of relatives.)
After the wake, a group of the younger cousins went back to the hotel to drink some beer, order pizza and talk about old times. It was interesting to hear stories about the CBW when he was younger and to meet the relatives his age (although I did hear some great stories from the great-aunts about when he was very little). In the course of the night, he elbowed me in the eye while turning over so I had to attend the funeral with 11 million relatives and a black eye.
The funeral was long but pretty--the CBW was a pallbearer, so I sat with a second cousin--and the graveside service was blisteringly hot. I took my hose off as soon as was polite. We stayed until the grave was covered and then went back to the aunt's house for more baked meats.
After lunch, we went with his parents to have my car towed back to Chas and then drove back home. Dinner seemed to much effort to cook, so we decided to go out, but had to take his car since mine was at the shop. His is not very reliable, and after we finished dinner, wouldn't start. So now we're both carless and tired and sick of relatives.
We left Sun and she died Sun night.
On Mon, we drove back down after work to meet with the family and go to the wake on Tues and the funeral on Weds. As we were driving around looking for a hotel, my car broke down and I had us towed to a garage and then dropped at a hotel. Tues morning, one of the uncles picked us up and took us to the hotel where the family was staying and we napped and had some funeral meats for lunch. The wake was just around the corner at a funeral home and we were the only group there, luckily, since we took up the whole building. (The CBW's mother has 10 siblings and her mother, the one who passed, had 10 siblings--lots and lots of relatives.)
After the wake, a group of the younger cousins went back to the hotel to drink some beer, order pizza and talk about old times. It was interesting to hear stories about the CBW when he was younger and to meet the relatives his age (although I did hear some great stories from the great-aunts about when he was very little). In the course of the night, he elbowed me in the eye while turning over so I had to attend the funeral with 11 million relatives and a black eye.
The funeral was long but pretty--the CBW was a pallbearer, so I sat with a second cousin--and the graveside service was blisteringly hot. I took my hose off as soon as was polite. We stayed until the grave was covered and then went back to the aunt's house for more baked meats.
After lunch, we went with his parents to have my car towed back to Chas and then drove back home. Dinner seemed to much effort to cook, so we decided to go out, but had to take his car since mine was at the shop. His is not very reliable, and after we finished dinner, wouldn't start. So now we're both carless and tired and sick of relatives.
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-10 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-15 04:50 pm (UTC)Are the cars any better?
How's the eye?
What'd you have for dinner?