21/06/2023
Iām driving away from a funeral feeling very ⦠something⦠itās hard to capture in wordsā¦
Knowing her days were very limited, a woman wanted to meet with me to share some of her life stories in preparation for her funeral. Iād already conducted a funeral for a member of her family previously and she was familiar with my ferreting about to uncover significant life events and poignant moments. She wanted to save me the trouble and give it to me herself.
Today at her funeral I told her stories. I delivered her last message to her children. I shared her romantic thoughts of when she first met her husband 60 years ago.
She was a very private lady, and emotions were not easily or readily expressed.
The family listened intently.
After the ceremony her children and grandchildren marvelled at some of the history revealed.
They wanted a copy of my notes to keep the details.
They said she was a very private person and much of what I had shared was not known to them.
I left with a profound sense of privilege in the realisation that this woman had shared so much with me, an almost stranger, and that I had been able to gift it on to her children. Through the physical loss of their mother and matriarch, they had gained a greater understanding, love and intensified respect of who she was.
Itās a strange role, this funeral celebrancy. I often never quite know the complexity of what Iām doing in the simplicity of celebrating a life.