The pictures from today are on my phone, and that’s in the car. So sorry, Grandma! We’ll be better tomorrow.
This morning I went to school and helped prepare food for a charity event. I cooked so slowly and messed up the mousse so many times that eventually I had to call it quits because I was going to be late to Grandma Darais’s funeral. It was an exercise in humiliation.
The funeral was absolutely beautiful, though. I couldn’t imagine a single thing about the funeral itself that I would change. Six of her seven children gave talks, and about twelve of her twenty-something grandchildren also spoke. I accompanied one of her daughters-in-law for a musical number, and two professional violinists played a beautiful number as well. If I could do it over, though, I would get a babysitter so I could actually hear the talks. What I heard was wonderful, but the girls were out of their minds with over-stimulation/fatigue, and I had my hands full chasing them all over the church (obviously, I took them out of the chapel, but they had the run of the rest of the church…). I am glad the funeral was taped and transcribed, and I can not wait to watch and read what I missed. Grandma Darais was incredibly inspiring, and Abe and I sat in the car a long time after getting home (the girls were asleep) and discussed the clarity of perspective Grandma Darais’s life and death have provided for our own lives. Apart from loving her, we also admire her immensely. She’s on my personal hero list.
Also, funeral potatoes and green jello are real, and they actually serve them at funerals. I have eaten funeral potatoes since coming to Utah, but I didn’t realize their nickname was based in any sort of reality. Nor did I imagine that people actually ate green jello at LDS funerals–but they really do! I felt ridiculously Mormon sitting in a chapel in Provo eating funeral potatoes and watching the girls eat green jello.
I’m going to go daydream now. I’m tired from chasing the girls. Abe is going to play video games with his brothers, who are in town for the funeral.