Mary was cremated today

Mary's cremation was exactly one week after she died.  (Mary always hated euphemisms like 'passed on' or 'crossed over'. She wished people were more direct and in honoring her wishes, I am using her preferred vocabulary.) 

She was wearing the red thermal nightgown she spent so many hours in this last year plus her blue fuzzy sweater that was a gift from Habitat from Humanity.  We knew when she was hurting because she wore "blue fuzzy" on bad days.  She carried a book (One for the Money by Janet Evanovich), tea (herb, of course), a dog toy (a skunk loved by Wolfie) and a penguin (made of fabric).

I did get to see her before they zipped up the liner and then I wrote the following on the outside of her crematorium container:

Mary, my love

Let your itchy feet carry you 

to new and wonderful places,

Let your spirit hold 

and keep our love,

All Ways and 

Always,

Pat

Cary and Mauro were very gentle with her and very professional.  They let me have a moment of silence and waited until I was ready.

They asked if I wanted to start the crematorium.  I agreed and they showed me what to do.   I then left because there was no reason to stay.  The system runs automatically for about 3 hours and then goes into an overnight cooling mode.  We started the crematorium at 2:45PM, Mary's last breath was at 4:40PM last Thursday. 

One week has passed and there are times I still expect her to walk in the door.   

Pat