Remembering during a time of loss

As I sat in a hotel room trying to prepare myself for the viewing (wake) and funeral of both of my Son’s Grandparents, it was comforting to turn to genealogy. They left this world after full lives, but sadly for us, within days of each other.

Of course, repeating the caveats of capturing information while family members are still alive came to mind. But enough has been written about finding out the stories, the details, and who those people are in the pictures. And enough has been said about reminding to people to make those phone calls and tell people that you love them.

That night I thought back to when my Mother died. Memories of her were running freely to me and to the others around me. Many were stories I had not thought of for many years. For example, after my Father passed away she told me that she was not intending to follow him soon. In fact, if something happened to her she cautioned me “to suspect foul play”.

Each story reminded me of a facet of her personality, especially her quick wit, confidence and generosity. At the time, I opened a Word document to capture those recollections of things she said. It was a way to hold onto the memories and be able to share them with my Son at a later time. It was also therapeutic to put so much into the context of her life and times.

In the past few days, memories have been rushing back to my Husband about his parents, and also about his childhood in a small town.  There were adventures of those adults who are no longer with us. Naturally, I will encourage him to record those stories in mp3 files.

So, I suppose this is a time for mourning, for remembering, and for genealogy.