Funeral

While a funeral isn't the funnest excuse to get together with family, it sure seems to draw the most people. I met people in Robert's family that I had never seen before. It was nice to see them and listen to their memories of Grandpa Barrus. Thursday night we went to the viewing and had the opportunity to talk with local friends and extended family. Since Grandpa Barrus lived in Sugar City for a very long time and was Mayor of Sugar City for a while, there were many people who knew him and wanted to say goodbye. At the viewing there was a table of mementos; one of the items on it was this picture of Grandpa and Grandma Barrus when they were younger. I'm not sure if it was when they were married or how old they were exactly, but my guess would be that they were in their low 20's. I can see some of Robert's look in his Grandpa when I compare them at this age.






One thing that I learned from this experience was that I don't want to bring my kids with me next time I go to a funeral unless there will be babysitters. At the viewing a bunch of us ended up taking turns keeping the kids outside so that they weren't running around through the funeral home. I taught them how to play 'Sharks and Minnows' which they really liked since it involved running and chasing - not exactly the calm somber decorum usually reserved for such occasions. And then during the actual funeral I ended up in the hallway with Natalia or Alauna for most of it. It definitely put a damper on Robert being able to mourn for his Grandpa since he was dealing with whichever daughter I wasn't in the hall with at the time. So while it's a good thing for the kids to see their Great-Grandpa and have some closure as to what has happened; I don't really know that they care that much and it really isn't good for the grownups wanting to have some closure.




I think that my favorite part of the funeral was when people had the opportunity to share some of their memories of Grandpa Barrus. Robert got up and told about when he used to live with his grandparents during the summers that he worked on the farm. My memory is about how every time we would go to Idaho and visit Grandpa Barrus would tease me about when we were going to move to 'God's Country'. I think eastern ID is way too cold, so we would banter back and forth each time.