Together Once Again

The current pandemic has caused many people to defer the funerals and burials of their loved ones. We waited five months and three days to have The Colonel's mother's cremains lovingly placed, by The Colonel's hand, between those of her beloved husband and mother.

The Colonel phoned the cemetery and asked if we could finally bury his mother. He let them know it would be a very small, private affair (no tent or chairs required) and that he wanted to be the one to bury her. I think they were taken aback a bit but said yes to his request.

On June 22, 2020, The Colonel, Yam and I (Spud was not able to join us, as he was in Pensacola for his naval training) drove the hour north to the cemetery. We had Jane's cremains in what we now call "The Family Urn". We had used this same urn to transport The Colonel's father's cremains about a year earlier and used it to transport the cremains of his sister before we had her interred in the Key West cemetery in 2016.

The Colonel and Yam transferred Jane's cremains from the urn to a plastic bag, which in turn was placed within a cloth bag made from one of Jane's favorite t-shirts (I had cut it and sewn it into a drawstring bag for this purpose per The Colonel's wishes). We then placed a family photo inside the cloth bag.

The cemetery workers had the grave ready for us. It may seem odd to say this, but it was good to "see" My-Favorite-Father-In-Law again. His little blue vault was visible as we peered into the grave. The Colonel got down on his knees and placed his mother's cremains inside her vault and then replaced the lid before he began to lower the dirt back into the open grave with the shovel he brought from home (the cemetery workers had shovels available but The Colonel wanted to use his own to bury his mother).

 

Yam and I also helped to bury Jane but The Colonel did most of the work.

The cemetery workers had to bring over a couple more loads of dirt for The Colonel to continue burying his mother (and reburying his father).

Once The Colonel had the open grave filled, the cemetery workers took over and replaced the granite stone that covers the grave site.

Finally, Jane is laid to rest. She is nestled between her husband and her mother. They are together once again. Once Jane's bronze plaque is placed below her husband's on the granite slab, we will make another trip to the cemetery to take a picture of it.