Mom’s Pink Funeral

Thanks for the inspo, Mom

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

A family member was there with me when my mother died, insisting that we call the funeral home RIGHT NOW. I didn’t know what the hurry was, but I complied. But what I really wanted was to spend a little more time with my mom, before her body was whisked away in a body bag.

Since that time, I have come to learn that there is no “rule” or law about how long you can keep a body at home after they die (may vary according to state). I mean, you are going to call them sooner than later, but there is no urgency. There’s no reason I couldn’t have hung out with my mom a little longer. Sigh.

Home viewings are becoming more common, and in that case the body may remain in the home for 2 or 3 days. That’s the extreme, of course, but I just wish I had known that back then. There is no hurry.

So they came to pick up Mom, and I sat there with my dad as he watched his wife of 57 years being carried out in a bag by two men in suits. I’m not sure how much it even registered for him though. He was also dying of cancer. But that’s another story for another day.

I knew exactly what dress she’d be buried in, even though we never discussed it. She wore the beautiful pink silk suit to two of her grandchildren’s weddings, and I know she loved it. That was a no-brainer.