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Planning Mom’s Grave Unveiling
Gathering a family of very different people to say a final goodbye.
Upon arrival at my 98-year-old dad’s house, we found him looking out the window and stating, “You see that? The trees and the green? If I was in assisted living, I’d be looking at another building. I’m not moving.”
So began the weekend of Mom’s grave unveiling last October.
Her wishes were fulfilled from the Beyond
My mother was a force of nature.
She passed after a three-year decline in October of 2022 at 97. I was the only daughter in town when she left us. Three others had already visited and said their goodbyes.
She was clearly at the end, so that day, I made sure she said goodbye to her brother, her neighbors, and her bird.
That night, I said I’d see her tomorrow. Her last words to me were, “No, you won’t.” She passed the next morning before I could get there from my nearby Airbnb. A bizarre string of events that morning delayed me. I believe that she didn’t want me to see her last breath.
Four of five of us daughters worked together to make her burial arrangements.
Dad made things a bit more difficult, as he wanted her buried at the VA cemetery…
