Thanks
Thanks guys. Although my Aunt had been in assisted care for nine years after her stroke, this was still unexpected. But, she was very much at peace at the end. She was a great influence and without her advice, this restaurant would have never existed. She was a very smart woman.
Funeral Planning....God forgive us all
So, I've spent the last day or so making arrangements, something that my siblings and I have made every possible effort to address seriously, but usually fail somehow. Yesterday my brother-in-law and I had the funeral home guy laughing out loud.
As hard as I try, I always manage to interrupt the casket sales pitch (during which we have to endure the flowery descriptions of various "new models" and all of the useless frilly bells and whistles that go along with these) with "what do you have in econo-pine?". We then engaged in a conversation about the possible use of Polyethylene instead of the pricey vaults, maybe with a zippered deal like those hefty freezer bags.

The funeral home guy was trying his best to maintain his professionalism, so I let him off the hook with, "Aw, come on man..you can't tell me that you guys don't crack jokes. There's no way you could be this serious and keep your sanity." He grinned, then joined us as "just one of the fellahs", and we hung out while my sis and wife went through the $500.00 floral arrangements...
My bro-in-law is an avid and well known hunter (owns an archery shop) and I used to hunt myself, usually with him, so when the guy said "you will need to
mark the grave" in our family plot, we looked at each other, I whispered, "Where should we go for coffee first?" ...he looked at us....and lost it out loud. Then we went out to the cemetary, identified the plot, and realized that we had no way of "marking" the spot since they were closed for the holiday. My bro-in-law went to his truck, pulled out an orange hunting vest, and yes, fitted it over the headstone.....
we are all going straight to hell.
I told my wife that when I shuffle off this mortal coil, she can have me cremated, put my ashes in a Bud Light can and kick me into the woods....save the ten or fifteen grand for the living, y'know?
And I bet my aunt is rolling her eyes and laughing at us....Myself especially, she always knew I was an idiot anyway. We had a lot of fun.