and when I'm dead dead dead...

I want to have a New Orleans style jazz funeral party.

I just got back from what people here call a wake. This one was particularly sad. A wake is the visitation at the funeral home on the day before the funeral. I am probably reacting to the sadness at this one.

But I want to have a party...or rather I want whoever is left standing to have a party.

When I was a kid, my family moved to a small town in sw Arkansas. I later met some one who moved there in the early 50's, from "up North." The family joined the church my family later joined (for the record, Presbyterian, who are ususally dull and quiet types). The guy told of going to a wake back in those days. They actually sat with the body. All night. a real wake.

So I want an all-night wake party with the casket open, which is going to be difficult because I want one of those green burials. OK we'll work it out some way.

And even though I don't yet know the date, you are all invited to come and party.You can all get drunk if you want to as long as you don't drive. Even if you are already dead, you are still invited.

Has anyone ever been to a happy funeral?

Lucy,

(I lost my previous post.)
To put it all more briefly, I'm all for it  :D  and here's some ideas to replace crepe-paper streamers for decorations:

www.PinkIncDesign.com 
http://conwinonline.com/design_projects/festive_col.asp

Enjoy!
Love, Bets

one of the links didn't work for me

but the balloons with the confetti are wonderful!

Lots of bright colors, that's what I want.

u got the right idea Lucy, no need to be morose at a wake, but celebration is in order.

I don't go to funerals, lol, wouldn't be caught dead at one! the time to celebrate a person is before they die. of course it might bankrupt the funeral places if everyone thought the way I do. its not that I want to upset the economy or anything.

I prefer immediate cremation and absolutely will not allow mourning and I already told my kids to expect my presence to be hanging about so they can gain their evidential right away.

love, alysia

quote Lucy: "Has anyone ever been to a happy funeral?"
Hm, not the funeral itself, but we met at a restaurant after it and there was free beer and I felt a bit happy then after a few...

Spooky

I went to a funeral lately in which the mother was honored by her son doing something extremely silly. You see, she had an undeniable sense of humor about everything. All of us were gathered at the graveside before the coffin as the handsome, successful-looking son stood up to speak.

When he pulled out a large pair of floppy, grayish men's underwear from his suit jacket and wiped a tear from his eyes, I knew that this was a very different kind of funeral....

You see, his mother was the kind of person who was so involved, so In Love with Life, that she was an incredible listener, an incredible talker, and she might distractedly grab something from a pile of laundry if she was overcome by emotion while Being There....

It is the little things that we think are so unimportant....that can make us smile. I didn't know this woman, but now I know a little bit more, and I like it.

:)