April 2013: Mumma's Funeral

We woke up on Saturday, April 20th, and did what we usually do in the morning while visiting my grandparents: we got donuts from Deerfield Bakery.

Later that morning, we headed to the funeral home to finalize the arrangements before going to Church for the funeral. While killing time, the kids had a blast. Too bad these cousins don't live closer to one another. (Lest you think we were being irreverent, let me assure you that Mumma would have approved all of these activities. She always treated us to donuts, and she loved kids more than anything, particularly this group of kids).

At the church, before the funeral, my friend Sarah, a Chicago-area photographer, captured some great pictures of the family. (Seriously, she's talented. She wrangled all of us in only 5 minutes!)

The funeral was actually quite lovely. My mom and uncle spoke, and I read a life sketch written by my grandfather. I was really touched by all of the people who came--the chapel was full. Afterwards the people from Church put on a nice luncheon for us, but the kids were more interested in doing this:

We spent the rest of the day just being together. It had been about 2 years since we were all in the same place at the same time, so it was actually kind of nice in that respect. We did classic Chicago things, like several rounds of Parcheesi. Some people took naps.

And late into the night, we took some silly pictures, a Mumma tradition. She always insisted on the funny faces.

A funeral is a lousy reason to get together, and we missed Mumma like crazy (I kept thinking she was just taking a nap and would come down the hall to join in at any moment), but we managed to enjoy each other despite the emotional roller coaster.