funeral | Mama Cormier

….the last two days have been very busy

Days 13 and 14 are still brewing in my head. I haven’t yet learned to just grab my sketch book and draw whenever I have a spare moment or two. Today and part of yesterday I cleared away some of the Christmas ornaments and tidied up the house for my sister’s visit today. The unfortunate part was that I only spent about 20 minutes with her before my husband and I had to run off to attend a funeral out of town. I didn’t want her not to come because she had cancelled so many times since Christmas because of bad weather and I didn’t want my father to be disappointed if they cancelled again. When we got back from the funeral my father talked at length about the nice visit he had with my sister and her family. He took them all out for lunch before they had to head back home.

The funeral was out of town for a family member on my husband’s side. We’re glad we went. The service was pretty long but it was clear that our cousin’s husband was dearly loved. Afterwards it was nice catching up with some of the other cousins and promising that we would have a family reunion in the near future that wasn’t at a funeral parlour. Most of the day was spent driving to and from the funeral and spending four more hours at the memorial service.

Just before we left a parcel arrived at my door. On Friday I ordered two art books that were recommended by Evelyn Flint on her blog. Jill Kuhn also used the collage book and recommended doing the 50 collages challenge. The first book is called The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman and the second one is Atmospheric Watercolour by Jean Haines. I’m looking forward to reading both books and am very excited about making more watercolour art. Stay tuned for more 365 Days of Art.

….a slightly different format this week for Cee’s Share Your World

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?

I have sliding mirror doors on my closet and I tend to keep them closed.
Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?

Absolutely! I figured I paid for them so I might as well take them home. I like them when I go away for short trips where they might not supply those things.
What is your usual bedtime?

I try to go to bed by 11:30 but often I’m up till after midnight. Not a good thing when I have school the next day and I have to get up at 6:30.
Do you like to use post-it notes?

Not really. I find they often don’t stick well enough to whatever you’re sending and they often get lost.
When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?

I have a second cousin in Germany who doesn’t have a computer so recently I wrote her a letter and sent her photos of the wedding from the summer. I would probably write her more often if she had a computer.
Any phobias?

This may sound strange but I’m afraid of bears. I’ve never had a confrontation with one but many years ago I went camping with my husband and I swore I heard a bear sniffing around outside of our tent. I was terrified. It was probably just a racoon.
How tall are you?

I am 5′ 5″ or 165 cm tall. When I was growing up I was considered average height but now I have to buy petite length pants or take them up at least three inches.

As you can see I am the shortest of the three sisters.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week we had a death in the family. My father’s wife of 22 years passed away quite suddenly. She had been ill for awhile but we didn’t know how ill she was until last Christmas when she stopped eating and drinking and didn’t get out of bed. On Jan. 9th, just a few hours after being diagnosed by the doctors at the hospital and taken off all life support she died. We thought it would take weeks and my father was preparing to go to the hospital every day until it happened. In many ways it was a blessing in disguise.

On Friday we had the funeral and I offered to speak on behalf of my father. I didn’t realize how difficult that was going to be until I started walking up to the podium. Luckily I managed to get through my speech. At the beginning and at the end I had to take deep breaths but the sobs and tears came anyway. Once I got going I was fine and the my family appreciated the effort.

The good news is that my father is doing very well and is already planning a trip to Germany to see his brother one more time and in the spring he is flying to Calgary to visit my sister. He has resumed playing cards with his friends from across the street and he is making new friends in the retirement home. For this I am grateful.

This week I returned to work and I’m looking forward to seeing my family on Saturday. My youngest daughter and her husband and baby are coming into town and we’re having lunch at my oldest daughter’s place. My husband is feeling much better and he’ll be joining us as well.

Other than that I have to work on my report cards, which I’m not looking forward to but they will be the last term 1 reports I will ever have to write. Hooray!