Part Three - Anna's Story

Part Three

(Anna Smithson is 28 and her mother died of cancer.  Her boyfriend left her behind for someone else.  She is an accountant and now lives alone.)

“I have my mother’s clothing,” Anna told the funeral home director.  “And I have some things to place in the coffin – a picture of my mother and father and a special prayer she loved.”  The director thanked her and then had her go to the room with him where the coffins were displayed.  She chose a wooden one with an ivory interior; the wood grain gave it more character, she thought.

At 28, Anna had never needed to prepare for a funeral before.  When her father died, her mother had done everything so effortlessly, as though she had prepared for it all her life.  Her mother had channeled the grief into action and made it through the calling hours and the Mass before she finally broke down at home and stayed in bed for a week. 

Anna’s job as an accountant was a stressful one and she knew although they had told her she could take as much time as she needed, that she would have maybe that one week to get her head together before returning.  Otherwise, by the time she got back the workload would be so backed up that any rest she got would be quickly erased. 

 At the calling hours, Anna felt fortunate that her mother’s widowed sister, Catherine, came from California.  Even though Lois Smithson and her sister had never been all that close, Catherine felt an obligation to attend and she didn’t want Anna to be alone for another.  Surprisingly, quite a few came and many of them seemed to know her mother better than she did in some respects.

“Your mother always worried about you, dear,” one kind woman told Anna.  “She loved you so much and prayed for you all the time.” 

 “I loved your mother’s cooking,” another one told her.  “She always put the most interesting things into it, like turnips.  Who would think to do that?” she added. 

 

"We are really going to miss your mother and especially her sense of humor," another said.

 

A part of Anna was thankful for their comments; a part of her was not.  After she moved in with Jeremy and she knew her mother wasn't happy about it, she didn't spend as much time with her as she might have.  The sense of humor comment really bothered her, because she realized that she hadn't seen that much of that side of her mother in a long, long time.  She also realized that she had been a source of her mother's concern to a degree she hadn't considered.

 The calling hours ended at 9:00 and then the funeral Mass was the next morning at 10:00 a.m.  Her mother was buried next to her father in the church cemetery a few blocks away.  Catherine insisted on paying for a luncheon for anyone who wanted to come, and there were about 50.  And then it was over and Catherine flew back to California.

Jeremy who knew her mother quite well didn’t come.