One of the other things that we did while we were in Michigan was something that my Mom and sister had been planning for a little over a year. It was a very difficult decision to make, moving my older sister’s grave of almost 28 years, but it’s always been very important to my Mom that she be able to rest next to her when the time comes and there were growing concerns about that not being possible, so they made all of the arrangements and that’s how we spent one of our days while we were there.
Obviously it was a very emotional day. I didn’t really know what to expect and it didn’t really even hit me until we were there in the moment … well, actually I suppose it started the night before because Mom had asked me to write something for the occasion and of course, it ended up getting put off until the last minute! 🙂 I don’t really have a lot of firm memories of Lisa – most of what I do “remember” is stuff that is perceived from photos and things that Mom and Dad have told me. Nonetheless, what started out being incredibly difficult to write – almost like I might imagine a eulogy would feel – ended up wrapping up quite nicely around 2:00am the night before, and even though it was probably one of the hardest things I’d ever had to read the next morning, I like to think that she would’ve appreciated the effort…
A month later now, Mom tells me that the grass has already grown in over the new grave, the stone is all cleaned up, and that everything is starting to look really nice. It makes me happy to know that now she can ride her bike over to the cemetary from her house to visit whenever she wants, whereas before she probably was only able once or twice a year when it was in a different town. They say that funerals are more for the living than they are for the dead, and I think I might suggest that cemetaries are the same way. Anything to help her grieve, and also remember, though, was well worth the effort.
