We had a beautiful memorial/funeral for dad. It was just what he would have wanted! This may be tacky to post pictures, but I think it helps the healing process, so I am doing it.
Dad did not want a funeral, so we had a memorial instead. Do you know the difference between a funeral and a memorial? A funeral has the body and a memorial does not. Something you will never need to know unless a loved one dies. Anyway, I think a memorial is for the loved ones left - a way to bring closure and a part of the healing process. We settled on a simple open house. Dad would not have wanted a big fuss, so we tried to keep things really simple.
My dad served in the Navy in the Vietnam War, so we settled on a red, white, and blue theme.
We borrowed all the tables and chairs and linens from my school
(I've said this a million times, but my school is AMAZING!)
This flag is from my dad's house and the ribbon is from a super amazing co-worker.
Paula did all the decorating - white flowers and leaves from a tree in her backyard (which is where we held the memorial) along with red and white ribbon were the centerpieces.
We had a few table full of pictures of dad. The miss matched frames looked great! From when he was a baby (luckily we found a box with a few pictures in his attic) all the way to current pictures. The guests really enjoyed looking back at all of the pictures and remembering when they knew him.
We also had food and dessert! I didn't take pictures, but we served meatballs, mac and cheese bites, and simple things like that. For dessert we had camo cupcakes and carrot cake cupcakes (his favorite). The food was great and of course the dessert was great too!
Overall it was a great memorial and we couldn't have done it without the help of Paula, Stacey, Alicia, mom, and I am sure I am forgetting someone. THANK YOU!!
4 comments:
I don't find it tacky at all that you posted pictures. I think it's fantastic that you can utilize your blog to heal. That's sort of why I started blogging too. After my sister passed away, it was a way of "talking" to her. I could express my feelings. It helped. You should do whatever helps you heal.
I love the memorial service idea. These are the types of things that are regularly incorporated into the funerals that I have been to in recent years. The discussions, the pictures, but most of all - remembering the good times.
Good luck to you and your family as the healing continues. I'll be thinking of you from Nebraska.
It's not tacky at all!
The memorial was beautiful!
My grandfather donated his body to science when he passed, so we had a memorial for him. For my other grandfather we had an open casket funeral. All I could think about was how my Papa just didn't look like himself with his mouth closed... he always slept with his fake teeth falling. :)
*hugs* and God Bless. What a wonderful ceremony and a loving post.
♥
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