mstang67chic
Going Green
And husband and I are both soooooooooooo glad to be home. It was a loooong, rough, stressful week and even without the grief part, I think we both (as well as all of my inlaws in our little car pool) had simply had enough of each other.
Actually, it's also nice to be back in civilization.....you know....where I have internet and can actually get a signal on my cell phone. LOL I literally had to drive a half hour to get a signal on my phone. Apparently there aren't any cell towers up the holler. (Yes Star...I got THAT text! LOL)
We got there Wednesday afternoon, visited for a bit and then changed clothes to go to the church where all of the services were held. Just a small little church but it sat up on this very steep hill. We drove my car up there once and after that, either walked up or caught a ride as me, husband, his brother and his wife in my car going up that hill.....just a tad too much weight. Things were done a bit different down there as for the viewing. Here, I'm used to the viewing being basically a greeting line with the family and mingling with others. There, we had a bit of mingling but then there were services each evening of the viewings. Plus, the services/sermons are a bit more.....enthusiastic than I'm used to. These are some very vocal Southern Baptists with a bit of preaching and a bit of music. Speaking of the music, I wish it had been different circumstances....I would have loved to have gotten recordings of some of the mountain spirituals they sang. The harmony just with two people was amazing. I have a list of some of the titles. I'll see if I can find any of them online somewhere.
Anyhoo....we had viewing Wednesday and Thursday evenings with the actual funeral on Friday. husband held up ok on Wednesday and Thursday. He had his moments but did better than I expected. Friday however.....that was a rough one. For the most part he kept it together through the service until the end. Then he and his sibs pretty much lost it and clung to each other in a group hug/breakdown. The drive to the cemetary was close to an hour but fortunately the grave service was brief. It was a very cold, windy day and the cemetary is on a steep hill.
Funeral aspects aside though, we had a good time. The entire family was there and a lot of visiting was accomplished. Visiting, stories, laughing and a LOT of cheating at cards was had by all! LOL And the food....OMG....it was like Christmas and Thanksgiving all week. I'm still stuffed. I got some great pictures of husband's family and some of his oldest uncle (in his 70's) in hats belonging to some of the teens. They even showed him how to "throw gang signs" for the pictures....it was hysterical.
husband is doing...*shrugs*...ok. He has his moments and I'm sure will for a while. He gets mad at himself sometimes though because he thinks he should be done with the crying and I have to remind him that he really is human. I think we're going to go to mother in law's apartment tomorrow and start to clean it out. It honestly could be done in a day but I don't know if everyone can make it and husband wants them all there. If they can't....I'll at least go over and finish up the cleaning without packing anything. And of course we have thank you notes to write, addresses to track down, etc. so I'm sure we'll be busy for a bit. husband has the official end of things to handle but hopefully that won't be too much of a pain for him. He's stressed out enough as it is and doesn't need any more hassles.
But yes...we're home. Tired, exhausted, stressed, grumpy and down to our last nerve but we're home.
Actually, it's also nice to be back in civilization.....you know....where I have internet and can actually get a signal on my cell phone. LOL I literally had to drive a half hour to get a signal on my phone. Apparently there aren't any cell towers up the holler. (Yes Star...I got THAT text! LOL)
We got there Wednesday afternoon, visited for a bit and then changed clothes to go to the church where all of the services were held. Just a small little church but it sat up on this very steep hill. We drove my car up there once and after that, either walked up or caught a ride as me, husband, his brother and his wife in my car going up that hill.....just a tad too much weight. Things were done a bit different down there as for the viewing. Here, I'm used to the viewing being basically a greeting line with the family and mingling with others. There, we had a bit of mingling but then there were services each evening of the viewings. Plus, the services/sermons are a bit more.....enthusiastic than I'm used to. These are some very vocal Southern Baptists with a bit of preaching and a bit of music. Speaking of the music, I wish it had been different circumstances....I would have loved to have gotten recordings of some of the mountain spirituals they sang. The harmony just with two people was amazing. I have a list of some of the titles. I'll see if I can find any of them online somewhere.
Anyhoo....we had viewing Wednesday and Thursday evenings with the actual funeral on Friday. husband held up ok on Wednesday and Thursday. He had his moments but did better than I expected. Friday however.....that was a rough one. For the most part he kept it together through the service until the end. Then he and his sibs pretty much lost it and clung to each other in a group hug/breakdown. The drive to the cemetary was close to an hour but fortunately the grave service was brief. It was a very cold, windy day and the cemetary is on a steep hill.
Funeral aspects aside though, we had a good time. The entire family was there and a lot of visiting was accomplished. Visiting, stories, laughing and a LOT of cheating at cards was had by all! LOL And the food....OMG....it was like Christmas and Thanksgiving all week. I'm still stuffed. I got some great pictures of husband's family and some of his oldest uncle (in his 70's) in hats belonging to some of the teens. They even showed him how to "throw gang signs" for the pictures....it was hysterical.
husband is doing...*shrugs*...ok. He has his moments and I'm sure will for a while. He gets mad at himself sometimes though because he thinks he should be done with the crying and I have to remind him that he really is human. I think we're going to go to mother in law's apartment tomorrow and start to clean it out. It honestly could be done in a day but I don't know if everyone can make it and husband wants them all there. If they can't....I'll at least go over and finish up the cleaning without packing anything. And of course we have thank you notes to write, addresses to track down, etc. so I'm sure we'll be busy for a bit. husband has the official end of things to handle but hopefully that won't be too much of a pain for him. He's stressed out enough as it is and doesn't need any more hassles.
But yes...we're home. Tired, exhausted, stressed, grumpy and down to our last nerve but we're home.
