Two Funerals And A Wedding

Posted on 16-04-2021 by admin

For the first time; I attended two funerals in one—and amazingly, it was like a sober wedding. Just that most people were dressed in black and were crying, tears of sadness and goodbye. Adieu to the couple starting another life. Farewell to the couple of Wahito and Mbugua, so inseparable, that they died in each. Find info related Korean Movie & Korean Drama at (Ryoo Hyoun-Kyoung) is an obstetrician who dreams of adopting. The Multi-ministry Task Force (MTF) announced the easing of restrictions for key life events, namely weddings and funerals, as part of a calibrated resumption of activities in Phase Two.

We’re in the midst of packing because we’ll be leaving for Scotland in a few hours! I want to publish this post before I go, though — it’s something I’ve been mulling over for a while…

In the past nine years, I’ve helped to plan two funerals (my parents’) and one wedding (my own). It’s been said that funerals and weddings both bring out the best and the worst in people, but I’ve just seen the best in terms of behavior and generosity.

Two Funerals and a Wedding (A Domestic Bliss Mystery series Book 8) - Kindle edition by Caine, Leslie. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Two Funerals.
Sometimes you’ve been invited to one wedding after another, and you simply don’t have the vacation days or the budget to accommodate them all. “I’m an expat with two kids under four so.

But in planning this wedding of mine that just happened this past Saturday, Sept. 12, I couldn’t help but draw some parallels between weddings and funerals in general.

The people who want to be there will be there. Aside from last-minute snafus that prevent people from attending, if people want to attend a wedding or a funeral, they’ll find a way to attend. I was shocked and pleased when crowds upon crowds of people attended both my mom’s funeral in 2006 and my dad’s last October, and they just had three days’ notice. Granted, most were local people or drove a max of three hours to get there, but still, it was amazing to see how many people devoted a Saturday or took a PTO day just to pay their respects.

So in planning my wedding, I applied that reasoning and didn’t bother sending save-the-date cards. It seemed to me to be an unnecessary step (I’m lazy) as well as an unnecessary expense. Mike and I did send our invitations a bit earlier than most people do, three months in advance, and it was a small wedding, but the vast majority of people who we invited ended up attending. Some even flew in from halfway across the country! (The fact that we held it at an amazing place also probably helped, admittedly.)

It’s an emotional time and it’s easy to make unwise decisions that will end up costing you. After my mom died, it was really important for my dad to get the headstone in place as soon as possible. He was distraught and under a lot of stress when he made a hasty choice and went with a memorial company, Cartledge Memorials in New Britain, PA without doing any research or comparisons. He paid in full immediately, and we found out later they charged him thousands more than they should have. Not only that, it wasn’t installed by the date promised and then when we tried to find out what was going on, they wouldn’t take my family’s calls anymore. It was so egregious and disgusting that my sister filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and the Better Business Bureau. Finally, we contacted a consumer reporter with a local TV station who did an investigation and made Cartledge Memorials look like the lousy crooks that they are. My dad and sister were interviewed at the cemetery and she did an ambush of Cartledge. Finally, the headstone was installed and part of my dad’s money was refunded.

Three Weddings And A Funeral

Similarly, when planning a wedding, many couples get swept up in the Wedding Industrial Complex. It’s a shadowy scourge that comes in the form of TV shows, websites, blogs, magazines and the influence of those around you that heighten emotions and could result in a lot of unnecessary spending and regrettable decision-making. It convinces couples that they need meaningless and expensive stuff like $125 wedding cake toppers custom-made to resemble the bride and groom. Or that their day will not be special unless the bride wears a wedding gown that costs about the same as a used car. I’m proud of the fact that my dress cost about as much as one of our weekend bar tabs. (It was not marketed as a wedding gown.) It’s alarming how pervasive this is — anything even vaguely wedding or bride-like comes with a jacked-up price and it’s so easy to get ripped off left and right. Mike and I spent our money on a kickass venue, great food, and an amazing photographer and tried to throw a fun party for our family and friends with as little planning as possible because I really couldn’t have been bothered to do too much, and we were ruthless with budgeting. But I can completely understand how strong the influence of the WIC can be and how wedding planning can produce a sort of echo chamber, particularly when you read message boards and absorb what other people are doing. It’s alarming how quickly expenses can add up when planning a wedding, and there are always hidden costs (hello, tipping!)

The flowers. O, the flowers. When someone dies, there are flowers. Flowers at the funeral home, lots of them. Flowers that people send to your home. I was a crime reporter for many years and I was always struck by how people would place flowers at the spot where people were hit and killed by a vehicles. And on numerous occasions I went to the home of a crime victim’s family to interview them and was offered flowers to bring home because they received so many. So I really do associate flowers — not the ones in the ground, but arranged flowers — with tragedy and death.

Weddings and flowers go hand in hand. But the thought of carrying flowers at my own wedding made me want to gag a little. Mind you, I was in a dear friend’s wedding last week and carried a gorgeous bouquet and was happy to do so. But I wouldn’t have been able to bring myself to have flowers at my own wedding. I did wear a few flowers in my hair, but when Mike and I walked down the aisle, I carried a small pouch folded up in my hand that Mike’s mom made for us using fabric from her mother’s wedding dress. Admittedly, it was easy to get away with not having flowers because the venue was the opposite of a blank slate — there’s so much to look at in there that it was sort of overwhelming. But my point is, it’s hard to separate joyful flowers from tragic ones in my mind.

Tell me what you think — I’d love to hear it!

Nope, it’s not a hokey movie sequel. It’s been my life of late, and let me tell you right out of the gate that I am just not the kind of person who can maintain a healthy lifestyle during times of distress.

Two weeks ago my family lost a very dear friend after a year-long battle with cancer. It’s still such a challenge to wrap my head around the fact that he is no longer.

That same week, I attended a wedding wherein my husband was the Best Man and my daughter, a bridesmaid. The marrying couple and bridal party were also rather connected with the friend who had passed away just days earlier. In fact, one of the groomsmen was actually the deceased man’s son. As you can imagine, the weekend was just emotional all the way around.

Last week, another friend of ours was mowing his lawn when he was apparently stung by a wasp and went into anaphylactic shock and died a day later. So much turmoil in such a short span of time!

Finally, my husband’s spirits were sunken by the news that a founding member of his all‑favorite progressive rock band Yes, Chris Squire, passed away yesterday after a short bout with Leukemia. Of course he didn’t know the man personally, but when you’ve become so connected to one’s art for as long as my husband has been, the loss is still profoundly felt.

Four Weddings And A Funeral

Despite having an incredible support network of the dearest friends imaginable, I still found myself reaching for my usual comforts: Sugar and alcohol. But after a tear-fueled beer, wine and cake fest, I’m again back on track. Have I ever told you that I’m an incredible optimist? I’ve always been. In the words of Chumbawumba, “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down.” I’m sorry. I had to go there.

So that’s the update as to where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to. I woke up this morning and started back on health eating plan, which, just to reiterate, is tailored to my body type of estrogen dominance and subsequent hypothyroidism. Heavy on the raw greens, moderate on the protein, moderate to high on the healthy fats, and void of sugar and processed carbohydrates. It sounds unpleasant, but I assure you that after two days, the sugar cravings are gone and I actually have started to crave the greens and vegetables. There has been no formal exercise to speak of, but I spent this past Saturday helping a friend move from one apartment to another, both on the second floor, and my already-massive calves seem to be in a permanently contracted state from running up and down stairs carrying furniture and heavy boxes for hours.

Anyhoodle my friends, I got this!