tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post4091019249965891975..comments2024-03-28T18:57:20.920+01:00Comments on Living the life in Saint-Aignan: The funeral on SaturdayKen Broadhursthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04430899802705818716noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-52842990790487571592015-05-28T05:53:26.803+02:002015-05-28T05:53:26.803+02:00Beautifully written, and very moving. It took me a...Beautifully written, and very moving. It took me a long time to understand that funerals are really for the living, as a kind of closure. Once I saw that, it made them easier to attend somehow.Emmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-90587107773999131622015-05-26T18:13:19.868+02:002015-05-26T18:13:19.868+02:00A very well written post Ken. Not an easy subject ...A very well written post Ken. Not an easy subject to write about . You certainly captured it with your words. Anne in Oxfordshirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14479380647784781207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-45144955685414807432015-05-26T07:17:19.526+02:002015-05-26T07:17:19.526+02:00A found out she had cancer only two months before ...A found out she had cancer only two months before she died. She was having digestive distress last fall, and she went to see doctors, but the cancer wasn't diagnosed right away for some reason. That's what people are saying. I worked with a man back in Illinois many years ago who had stomach cancer. He wrote me a long letter about it one day before he died, describing the pain as excruciating. I hope A didn't suffer that way.Ken Broadhursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04430899802705818716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-81837990577587264702015-05-26T01:12:48.152+02:002015-05-26T01:12:48.152+02:00Thank you for this slice of life.Thank you for this slice of life.chrissouphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00398602853402174732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-11381503847270736282015-05-25T21:53:18.636+02:002015-05-25T21:53:18.636+02:00My thoughts exactly. I have never understood frien...My thoughts exactly. I have never understood friends or relatives who never made it across the country or to another state to visit relatives, but then always managed to make an abrupt (and expensive) flight when someone passed away. <br /><br />Mary in OregonMaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04911284607089608538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-12314113172653829462015-05-25T19:10:32.342+02:002015-05-25T19:10:32.342+02:00Nice but sad ceremony, The cementery looks like in...Nice but sad ceremony, The cementery looks like in PolandGosiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14604712540141917583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-39190848401837538222015-05-25T17:22:31.056+02:002015-05-25T17:22:31.056+02:00Thank you, Jean, CHM, Andrew, Tim, and Evelyn. I j...Thank you, Jean, CHM, Andrew, Tim, and Evelyn. I just sat down and typed this morning, for an hour, remembering Saturday morning. I have several vivid memories of A, who hated the chickens her closest neighbors kept for a few years before they moved out. A didn't mind their loud parties (which drove us crazy) but she couldn't stand the early morning clucking and crowing of the <i>volatiles</i>. She much preferred living in the Paris suburbs to the country life in our hamlet outside Saint-Aignan.Ken Broadhursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04430899802705818716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-12685809047147706542015-05-25T16:38:39.006+02:002015-05-25T16:38:39.006+02:00I third what Jean Laine said and second CHM. It...I third what Jean Laine said and second CHM. It's best to take care of the living. Still it's good to be present at the funeral to offer your condolences to the family. I feel for the twelve year old. It is a blessing to have grandparents as a child. Thanks for taking us to a french funeral. It seems like I go to at least one funeral every month now....c'est la vie. Evelynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17824964122794535252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-70758008415673301642015-05-25T15:13:49.977+02:002015-05-25T15:13:49.977+02:00Agreed!Agreed!Le Pré de la Forgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02396822372095610004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-33482540934404355502015-05-25T13:24:36.244+02:002015-05-25T13:24:36.244+02:00Photos of the occasion were not necessary. Your de...Photos of the occasion were not necessary. Your description painted a wonderful word picture. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-85758924684035833242015-05-25T12:19:10.772+02:002015-05-25T12:19:10.772+02:00I remember a great-uncle's funeral (my mother&...I remember a great-uncle's funeral (my mother's foster father) in 1961 and my paternal grandfather's in 1969. In both cases, the deceased was laid out for viewing, the first in his own living room and the second at a funeral home. Those were impressive scenes to somebody between 12 and 20 years old. I missed my paternal grandmother's funeral because I was, I think, in France when she died.<br /><br />I've been to very few funerals in my life. A friend's in 1979. My father's in 1990. Another friends in 1998. And now two in Saint-Aignan. I've seen funerals depicted in several French movies and always found them interesting.Ken Broadhursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04430899802705818716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-72547574494498856172015-05-25T11:01:36.519+02:002015-05-25T11:01:36.519+02:00Et vous eûtes raison.Et vous eûtes raison.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05732906872139219420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-2786343535626316492015-05-25T10:49:48.332+02:002015-05-25T10:49:48.332+02:00The photos in the post are from October 2005 — 10 ...The photos in the post are from October 2005 — 10 years ago already. I wish I had been able to take photos on Saturday, but it seemed disrespectful.Ken Broadhursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04430899802705818716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-12313805882945300652015-05-25T10:48:24.810+02:002015-05-25T10:48:24.810+02:00Monsieur est trop bon. Maupassant doit se retourne...Monsieur est trop bon. Maupassant doit se retourner dans sa tombe...Ken Broadhursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04430899802705818716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-83828539508524353342015-05-25T09:27:48.341+02:002015-05-25T09:27:48.341+02:00I second what Jean Laine said.
I have my own theo...I second what Jean Laine said.<br /><br />I have my own theory about cemeteries and taking care of people while they're living instead of after they're dead.chmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17765675930520613520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-27879066387535789222015-05-25T08:39:37.993+02:002015-05-25T08:39:37.993+02:00I have now been to two French funerals... I like t...I have now been to two French funerals... I like the approach they take... far more personal than in the UK.<br />A recent one, of a friend here, was a wonderful send off... with music and a slideshow of him at his best...<br />a lovely way to celebrate someone's life!!<br /><br />I can understand the youngster not wanting to attend...<br />my grandad died when I was around that age...<br />I had just gone to boarding school so wasn't able to attend...<br />so all my memories of him are of this interesting, always be-suited elder....<br />full of his days as an explorer.<br />I didn't attend my Gran's funeral, either, tho' I would have been able...<br />nor did I visit her in hospital once she became vegetative...<br />so, my memories of her are mainly the person I learnt a lot of cooking from!<br />But both struck me hard at the time... tho' I don't think it would have been any less if I'd gone to say goodbye at a funeral.<br />We all handle death differently...<br />my godfather, "The Bishop", died in rather tragic circumstances... and I couldn't attend that funeral...<br />so I took the afternoon off work... and went down the pub, with the pewter pint tankard he'd given me for my 21st...<br />and raised it many times in his memory!! Many times!<br />But something stopped me from getting absolutely smashed...<br />despite the fact I am certain I drank far more than usual.Le Pré de la Forgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02396822372095610004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18071407.post-52583425744798096612015-05-25T08:20:25.287+02:002015-05-25T08:20:25.287+02:00Like a Guy de Maupassant's novel. You are a go...Like a Guy de Maupassant's novel. You are a good writer.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05732906872139219420noreply@blogger.com