Boy do I have a story for you...

If you follow me on facebook you might already know this, but I will tell the story for those of you who don't.

My granny left this world on January 22, 2009. We all felt and still feel sadness because we miss her, but we rejoice because we know that she is in heaven. Faith is wonderful, amazing and beautiful like that. Granny is free from cancer and pain in heaven and that is what we want for her.

The funeral was on Monday. We were all in good spirits. The minister told us that it was okay to laugh and smile, that we were celebrating her life. No one seemed to have a heavy heart, we just missed her. The service at the funeral home was beautiful; my cousin Laurie has an amazing voice and she performed an amazing solo of "How Great Thou Art". After the service we left to head to the cemetery.

Now let me also say that there wasn't a funeral procession. Granny was to be buried two counties over from where we live. Evidently the police have to change off at county lines and it all gets very complicated. We were all to meet at the cemetery. J.D. and I were riding by ourselves. My cousin Amanda and her husband, Lindsay (a friend of the family) and Dan and Matt (also cousins) were all in one vehicle. We were following each other in the cars. Evidently as we passed the cemetery and were nearing the entrance, Amanda started freaking out and saying "the tent is in the wrong place." Lindsay responded with "I'm sure it is in the right place, they (the cemetery) do this every day. It will be fine." We all pulled in the entrance of the cemetery. The funeral home director was blocking the road in the cemetery and he looked like he was going to be sick. We rolled down the window and he said "Ummmm folks, we have a little problem. It seems that the grave was not dug." You can imagine our response. We drove around to the family plot and sure enough, there was granny's headstone that she and granddad ordered years before with the ground in front of it still undisturbed. My cousins and I just stood there waiting on the rest of our family to arrive. To be honest, it was really kind of funny. I mean, what kind of cemetery forgets to dig a grave? Lindsay looked at Amanda and said "Well, I guess I was wrong. But to be honest, I have never done anything with your family where something didn't go awry." My aunts started arriving. We were really nervous about when my granddad would arrive because we knew he would FLIP out. Sure enough, it took two people to get him into the office at the cemetery. By this point, we were all ready to grab a shovel and dig a hole ourselves.

We ended up holding a mock funeral. What is a mock funeral, you ask? Basically they set my granny's casket by the lake with the flowers and the chairs and we held a prayer service. It was hard to concentrate because the backhoe was driving by and they began digging the grave about 500 feet away. We didn't get to see her actual burial because it was dark and we had to leave. It was all kind of odd. In the end I think that maybe it was meant to work out that way. I don't think Granny wanted us to think of her in a cemetery because that isn't where she is. The vessel that carried her for 72 years is there, but she isn't.

And yes, the cemetery issued a refund check. You would not believe how much they charge just to dig a grave and let people use a tent and some folding chairs!