We are back from Idaho. We had to extend our stay an extra day so we could attend the funeral of MT's uncle Paul. He passed away last Wednesday night. The funeral was held today - a little late because the family wanted to wait for one of the grandsons to get leave from the Army. He's stationed in Bahrain. He looked so handsome in his dress uniform.
Uncle Paul was in the Navy. He and Aunt Pat had five sons and one daughter. Pat and Paul would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in August 2012. They are the kindest, most giving people I know. She loved her husband a lot. I know she's hurting and will miss him dearly. He was a great guy. He had the sweetest smile and a wonderful sense of humor. He suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and congestive heart disease, and he was basically house-bound for many of the last years of his life.
It was obvious that his family loved him very much. The funeral service was touching, starting with the family prayer that was said by one of his grandsons, Eric. Eric is a young man in his 20s with a beautiful baby girl of his own, but the way he said, "Please God, watch over my grampa and my dad," made him sound like a little kid. I totally lost it. (Eric's father passed away about four years ago.) In the main service, Paul's sons gave a life sketch and told a couple of stories that made everyone smile. They talked about how much their dad loved their mom and how he always put his family first. They talked about his illnesses and how he didn't complain when he was in pain or his situation in general. They talked about how glad their dad was whenever anyone came to see him; how he welcomed everyone into his home.
Uncle Paul was buried with full military honors. The Color Guard was there and presented the flag that draped the coffin to his widow. He received a 21 gun salute. It was beautiful and moving. At the end of the service, we released blue balloons. They floated away in the pale blue sky. I released mine not only as a good-bye to Uncle Paul, but also as a prayer for Aunt Pat.
After the graveside ceremony, we all went to the church for a luncheon. We didn't have ham and funeral potatoes, though (much to MT's dismay). We had soup and salad and I thought it was nice. We actually had ham and funeral potatoes for Christmas dinner, so soup was good to me.
As moving and loving as the funeral service and graveside ceremony was, I know that type of service is not for me - although a 21 gun salute would be pretty cool, I don't think I can have that! I don't like the open coffin viewing. I didn't care for the musical selections at the service, although the man who sang had a beautiful voice. I don't like the idea of being buried. I think I would like to be cremated and my ashes spread...well, I don't know where just yet. I'd prefer a celebration of my life and the music that should be played is "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 in it's entirety. I really love the music at the beginning and the end of the song. I hope that my family would have wonderful kind words to say about me. I hope that friends would be sad to see me go and that they would be glad they knew me and wouldn't be ashamed to say so.
I don't know if that's really what I intended to write about, but it's out there now and I'm ok with it all.
RIP Uncle Paul. You were a cool dude and you'll be missed.
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