20160607 (markers)

Couldn't find a good pic for memorials but wedding images abound

Memorial and a wedding in 

A week gave me some time 

To consider life’s milestones

(Nobody I know is having 

Babies so we’re leaving

Birth out for this one). “Ask

Not for whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.” Never before

Said so well nor likely ever to

Be better said. Presbyterians

Generally don’t have elaborate

Churchified funerals that

Involve bodily presence of

The deceased. They leave

Interment proceedings up to

The family. No remains to

Pretty up and display for

Days. No flower cars. How 

Does the funeral industry make

A buck under such conditions?

The undertakers pick up the 

Remains from wherever the 

Unfortunate one kissed off:

Hospital, retirement home, or

Morgue and transports them

Most likely to the cremators

Nowadays. Then they call you 

In to pick up the “cremains” so

Titled after the process, already

Sealed in a vessel foreverward

Jean’s neat Rosewood chest 

Struck me as, “Honey, I shrunk 

The casket,” while Peter’s

Nondescript brown vinyl, snap-

Lid, could have doubled as a 

Lunchbox (his ashes rested in 

Plastic only momentarily before

They were dispatched to the grounds

Around Lake Tahoe). I told another

Attendant at the memorial after the 

Family remarks I was considering

Recording a message to be played

Posthumously at the proceeding

Where I could admit to my flaws,

Gaffes, insults, and sins rather

Directly lest any speaker depict

Me as a man whose feet did not

Touch the ground (not that I

Fear anyone of my family could

Really lie like that). Ah, the

Wedding! What a thoroughly

Joyous and civil affair. Handsome

Groom, beautiful bride—no

Zillas here. Two ministers, no

Less, present and emeritus

(Maternal grandmother was his

Office assistant). Fabulous 

Soiree at notably posh society

Site—drinks, gourmet meals,

Pleasant, spirited dancing (nobody

Carried out drunk and screaming 

By the police—obviously not a 

Polish wedding). Not a flaw to

Be found, so precisely and 

Lavishly planned. No drunken

Toasts, caterers did not spill.

Truly a historical event recorded

On numerous platforms and 

Devices. Couple off to Espana

The day following. If you’re

Ever so lucky to be invited, go

Happily. These weddings are

Getting rare among the middle

Classes. If you consider the

Tentativity of contemporaneous

Commiters and the accompanying

Expense, you’ll understand why.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016