Hats and Funerals

[GHT]

Be safe, be strong and see you on the streets soon, Eric -

Is that what you do? Who would have thought?

 

[Tukwila]

Funerals, like weddings, are becoming, more and more, a celebration. That's a celebration of the deceased's life. I have been to a couple in the last five years. Tim was just 45, he left a widow and three daughters, the family specifically asked for no dark clothing, rather, they specified, bring me sunshine. And just for his family, Tim must have had a word because the sunshine on that day was glorious. For that funeral I wore a summer blazer, with a Panama straw hat, my missus wore a summer dress with a floral fascinator rather than a full hat.

Lorraine was only 53 when she succumbed to pancreatic cancer. She had lived with her partner for about fifteen years. When she was diagnosed the couple organised their wedding and her funeral. My wife made the wedding dress, an honour as Lorraine now sleeps in it.

Her funeral was an era related affair with everyone turned out in the finest forties attire. Re-enactors were pall bearers and the coffin was a wicker basket. If it's possible to have a happy funeral then Lorraine's send off was it.

We've been to a couple funerals since moving to this town. The last was notable in that the surviving spouse requested, at her husband's insistence before he died, that people come in Hawaiian shirts and such. Not all did, but in Mark's honor i did as requested.