Beneath the Wraps

               One of my uncle’s funeral is tomorrow.   He passed away on the 12 th . It is in Utah, thus I won’t be attending.   I feel bad that I am unable to attend as I look back on the year that we had moved to Oregon.           I had another uncle pass away on the 6 th of June.   He had been battling cancer off and on and finally decided to throw in the towel. My cousin had wanted to have one last Christmas in July party.   She told everybody it was because Richard and I would be moving to Oregon – and who knew when we’d return.   But it was really for her dad – who had passed the week before the scheduled event.   From what I remember more than half the family would be out of town due to other commitments.   And yet the day of his funeral all of the family returned even though so many had said they’d be out of town that day.   Every family member ...

         The smoke must have cleared out as I was able to see stars above the skylight.  I hope it may remain behind the hills or better yet disappear all together.  Bless the many fire fighters who are battling the flames.          A funeral was held yesterday at the church.  The second I've attended in person rather than virtually since the pandemic made its way to the US.  As with the last funeral, the service did not take place until after the body had been buried - or in yesterday's case, cremated.          Jenna had been asked to sing with her friend, Heather.  They performed two songs: "I am a Child of God" and "Where Love is".  I remember them learning the latter in primary after Jenna had already graduated to Young Women's.  It is one of my favorite primary songs and it makes me feel bad that I somehow missed out on teaching or singing it to Jenna.    ...

          Though I have had a small hand and say in making funeral arrangements, I have not had the opportunity of having to find a mortuary nor have considered every financial expect.   Before either of my parents had passed, there needed to be a record of what funeral home to contact should they expire.   My dad lived out his final days at Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah.   Ironically, he had also been born there (or so I was told) but at that time it had been called Cottonwood Maternity Ward and wasn't the full blown hospital where he had died.                Mom had used a local mortuary as a contact I’m guessing because it was familiar territory as it had been used by other members of our ward.   Before mom passed, Corey had made arrangements for Premier Funeral – though none of us had heard of it before, it really does seem the most economical way to go.     ...

Biff works as a security guard He gets bored patrolling and calls us often. Just a week and a half ago he mentioned an upcoming weekend getaway. His in-laws were planning on taking him, his wife, and the baby. Biff had looked forward to Spending Time in the pool with Jeanie and Ally. He had made arrangements for getting the time off from work. He was home when Jeanie fell. He couldn't get to her quickly enough. The autopsy showed that she had a clot in her lung. Perhaps that is what caused her to fall. We had planned to visit with family members in Utah the second week in August. We have two granddaughters turning two that month. Carrie had called Jeanie on a Monday to ask if she wanted to celebrate the girls' birthdays at the same time before our return to Oregon. The following Monday we were all at Jeanie's funeral. Biff held Ally over the casket for one final view. Ally held out her arms and called, "Mommy" one last time. I w...

          My Uncle Ross had battled cancer off and on for I don’t know how many years.   His last time in the hospital was majorly hard on his wife and children – but he kept up a positive attitude, I believe for their sake.                       When he left the hospital, he was told that he would have no more than a year left on earth.   (Probably not in those exact words – but you get the gist)           My cousin, Michelle, had sent out a request for an early “Christmas in July” celebration – hoping that we would all enjoy one last celebration with Uncle Ross and have those treasured memories as we had for mom.   Only her request came as a plea on my part: “LaTiesha is moving to Oregon.   Let’s have our Christmas early this year before she goes” She didn’t want to sa...

“Ring Out Wild Bells” (found here ) has got one of the most mournful tunes I have ever heard in my life.   If it isn’t the most mournful tune in the hymnbook, I would guess it’s at least in the top three. To top its already mournful tune, it is being played on the organ – which in my opinion is one of the most mournful musical instruments and so the two put together sounds like a procession to a dark funeral. The chorister was not impressed with the lack of volume from the congregation and suggested we try again.   The brother behind me uttered, “Well then pick a different song” Needless to say, I was in full agreement.   It wouldn’t bother me at all to have that hymn completely thrown out of the hymnbook.   But then again, I have only heard it just once a year.   For me, personally, once a decade would be plenty. I visualized a setting as one would find in a Charles Dickens story.   It’s rainy and cold and everybody is dressed in black...

I don’t know when the boys had lost touch with their mother’s family. Roland supposedly had her number on file, and the boys would constantly ask, “When can we see Aunt Judy again?” I figured it should be up to Roland to provide the number, put in the phone call, make an effort to get in touch. It took me two years to realize that if the boys were going to get in touch with Aunt Judy, they would have to come up with another source. I knew we wouldn’t find her under her maiden name and asked them one night to provide me with the first and last name of her husband and then we would look her up. I was surprised that there was only one Van Ball in Layton. I called Judy and introduced myself and learned that her father’s funeral had taken place only three days prior. She took down our name and address and sent out three programs (one for each boy). Even though the family had been out of touch, the three missing grandsons had still been named as honorary pallbearers. ...

Before Jenna turned five she was introduced to Isaac – a cousin to Paula – who, at the time, was Biff’s platonic girlfriend.   Roland asked Isaac how old he would be (or what age he’d just turned – I forget what time of the year it was) We both figured at least nine.   Both of us were quite floored when he answered seven..   He was too tall to be only seven. He was actually quite tall for nine.    Surely Jenna and Isaac were more than just two years apart.      Isaac’s mom was involved with an Easter tradition.   Every year right after Church, the children would look for the plastic eggs that the adults had hid around the yard – her father’s yard to be exact.   Paula had outgrown the tradition and had asked Biff to bring Jenna so that Isaac and Paula’s brother weren’t hunting for eggs by themselves.   So from 2009 to 2012 Jenna has always done Easter with Isaac and his family.       ...

  Two weeks after I started my blog I became part of a search party who went out looking for mom who had dementia and had wandered from home.  She could not be left alone.  Each of us worked out a schedule so that someone would always be with her. Two weeks after this year started mom was released from the hospital and spent her last night at the house she’d lived in for over fifty years. It had been on a Sunday when Ellen found my mom passed out and called for Nate to assist.  Patrick ended up taking her to the hospital.  He and Nate were both dressed for church but stayed at the hospital all day. They did not go to Church that day. Patrick had chosen to stay with mom. On Monday mom’s four children worked together to fill out the paperwork to move mom into assisted living. On Wednesday Kayla took mom to her new home at the assisted living facility – the last place she would live. And Corey came from Las Vegas to assist and say good...