Musings 🤔

[Jingle_berry]

Today I went to a funeral of a friend of my mum’s ( who I lost last May) mum. ( hope you can follow that!!)

A few things struck me today. The first being that our time here is finite, so we really do deserve to look after ourselves and make sure we enjoy it to the full.

The lady whose funeral it was, required an enormous coffin - an additional 2 people to carry it, again I found myself thinking that pleasure in life has to be found somewhere other than food, that I really never want that coffin to be mine.

I also realised how much I miss my own mum, but also how proud she would be of her family, how we’ve looked after and supported each other.

A day for reflection and no particular point to my post, just thought I’d share 😊

[IndigoBlue61]

Funerals are so poignant aren’t they Jingle_berry, but useful if they make us take stock. 😕

I’m sure your Mum would be very proud of you all ❤️

[Joanney69]

It is a shame it takes a funeral to make us stop and think 🤔, Jingle_berry Jingle_berry but it makes you think about things & making decisions like not wanting food to always be the pleasure in life. Take care 😊

[BridgeGirl Administrator SS Supercook 2 stone]

Funerals are certainly a time of reflection Jingle_berry . For me, while every funeral is individual to that person, it also brings back other funerals and losses. That doesn't diminish the person you're remembering on that day, rather it becomes one joined up recalling of people you've loved and shared your lives with.

It's also often a time for getting together with people, particularly family, that you don't see otherwise. A few years ago, we had a family gathering "just because" (triggered by finding a cousin we never knew about + cousins visiting from Oz) and it was great to meet and have a good time together and meet some of the next generations. And while there was a lot of nostalgia and memories of previous generations, it was a wonderful experience - so much so, we followed it up with an even bigger "do" a couple of years ago.

My tip would be, if you have family you're always "going to" get together with, don't wait until it's for a funeral

[Jingle_berry in reply to BridgeGirl]

Great advice xxx

[Cat33 Visitor]

Glad you shared your thoughts on here amongst friends

Sorry that you lost your mum last year it's such a huge thing to lose a mum Mine wasn't that nice at times but I still had lots of very happy memories too and it was a massive life event to lose her So I do understand

Funerals always bring up so many memories and thoughts don't they What a shame your mum's friend was so overweight

I'm glad you have a lovely supportive family and you have done your mum proud

Take care ❤

[13Valerie]

Thanks for sharing. A timely reminder.

Love to you at this time 💜

[elliebath Maintainer]

A very poignant post, thank you for sharing it.

[Zest Healthy BMI]

Hi Jingle_berry

Wishing you the best for the weekend, and yes, it's really poignant to reflect on such things.

Take care,

Zest

[rozwalts]

Odd you should mention the size of the coffin. One of the reasons is that I wish to donate my body to medical science. I/We have filled in the forms, 'himself' feels the same, but I noticed it said they would not accept anyone who is obese. So I added that to my growing list of reasons as to why I should lose weight. Makes sense to me anyway.

[Fran182716 in reply to rozwalts]

My dad left his body to medical science rozwalts a really unselfish and admirable thing to do. From the point of view of the family left behind it's really helpful to discuss some sort of ceremony or plan as your family would have no funeral to attend, or grave/ ashes scattered location to visit. Once a year around the time of my dads birthday my sons and I have a seaside day and write happy birthday dad/ granddad in the sand. We have a lovely day and it's full of good memories 😀

[rozwalts in reply to Fran182716]

It is something we have discussed with our daughter, her husband and daughter. We have very little in the way of family, and what we have are spread around the country, and are not really in a fit state themselves to attend a funeral anyway. I have a feeling my sister-in-law would only come if she thought there was something in it for her!

As a family, even when I was a child, we were scattered to the four winds, mostly in the north and east, though it would appear we have now spread back to Wales, which is where himself's family originate from. I originate from the north east, but have never met any of my family members from the area other than my grandmother. She died nearly fifty years ago, as did my other grandmother, she came from Lincolnshire. I haven't met any members from her side of the family since she died in the late 1950's.