My mom’s funeral was Wednesday.  Despite having a month to prepare for the goodbye, it still doesn’t feel real.  A coworker of my brother’s lost her mother this time a couple of years ago.  She warned him next Christmas will be harder than this one.  This Christmas we’re still in shock and reality hasn’t set in quite yet.  That might be true. I keep thinking mom is just in Salt Lake and will be home soon. 

The night before the funeral, my brother received a call from the funeral parlor.  There was a problem they needed to tell my dad about but wanted to do it in person.  So dad and RH headed back down to the funeral home not knowing what to expect.  It turns out, there was a slight problem with the plot my parents bought 45 years ago.  Due to some settling (we live in an old coal mining town which has been completely undermined) the “resident” next door kind of slid into my dad’s space.  There was enough room for mom, but no space for dad.  The funeral home – who owns the cemetery – felt awful about the situation and said this kind of freak accident has only happened one other time.  They offered my dad two new plots which have a better view of mom’s beloved White Mountain anyway.  There was just one hitch – she couldn’t be buried on Wednesday.

We went through the motions on Wednesday and even went to the cemetery.  Her grave was dedicated.  But mom spent the past couple of days back at the funeral home.  She was just buried today.  We went to the cemetery again today and said another goodbye. 

That wasn’t the only problem we had on Wednesday.  My brother is the general manager of the local newspaper.  A problem with the printing press prevented the newspaper from being delivered that day.  The first day in over 100 years this community hasn’t had a paper.

One more setback occurred when I went to start my car.  I had a dead battery with no warning.  It just decided to not to work Wednesday morning on the way to the funeral.  So, I got there later than I wanted and felt rushed and hurried.

Not sure if mom had anything to do with all the problems that arose or if it is all just a strong coincidence.  I’m inclined to think it was all just a coincidence.  A coincidence with some really great (or terrible) timing.