Funeral Music

I remember long years ago The Grandmother told me she wanted When the Roll is Called Up Yonder and When the Saints Go Marching In at her funeral. She said she wished people could walk behind the hearse like they used to instead of ride in cars like is done now.



Sometimes I get sudden flashes of understanding of just how long ago she was born.

During that time during which she was born, Woodrow Wilson was president and became the 1st to travel outside the U.S. while in office, the Sedition Act of 1918 had been passed, the entire Romanov family had been executed, the Spanish flu pandemic was at its height, they were still fighting WW1 with the Ottoman Empire still around to take an active part, the Red Baron was killed, Sergeant York was newly a hero, women couldn't vote, Claude Debussy died, Max Planck won the Nobel Prize for physics, Mississippi was the 1st state to ratify prohibition, the Stars & Stripes was first published, the last Carolina parakeet died in a zoo, congress authorized time zones, Charlie Chaplin got married, women had begun wearing skirts above the ankle, she had one grandparent who was a Civil War spy and other grandparents who were born during that war...

That, folks, is a long time ago. Yet here she is, still with her mental faculties intact, still able to enjoy and appreciate little things like going out to look at the leaves changing colors and little kids trick-or-treating in her building, and still wondering what to wear and fussing a bit over her latest haircut.

An ability to appreciate little joys can add spark to life at any age.