A Funeral in Salt Lake City

Well... we have lost another mortal to the spirit world.  Yes... my sister Bonnie has left her mortal body here on Earth and has decided to live painlessly in Paradise.  And yes, we know she is in Paradise.  She spent the last 3 years of her life making amends and getting ready for her entry into the next stage of her journey.  

The funeral was very nice, as expected.  She has been talking about her funeral for the last 40 

years.  She always talked about her beautiful blue dress.  She was very excited and proud of the fact that everything was paid for.  It was not that she didn't trust her kids... but at that time only she was in the position to pay for a funeral and so she arranged it the way she wanted.

I feel truly blessed to have met Bonnie.  She was 17 years older than me.  I was so surprised to find out... at the funeral... that she was only 1 year younger than my mom when she died.  My mom seemed old... and Bonnie didn't so I guess this means that I am old and don't know it.

Anyway, Bonnie was a force of nature... like a hurricane or a tornado... nothing to be reckoned with.  Pete, Jo and I just stood back and watched, and listened to her in action.  Oh, the stories she could tell.  We were from the little town of Oroville, under the thumb of Paul Budd Rose.  He had already abandoned the little family in which Bonnie was born and so she had the genes of my dad but was not at all influenced by him.  She was amazing.  Her raucous laugh and flowery language mesmerized us.  

One amazing story was of her buying a brand new Buick from a dealership in Salt Lake.  EVerything went amazingly well.  She walked in... picked out her car... (oh did I mention this was in the 1970's) and then the time came for the signitures.  She signed and then they wanted to know when her husband would be in to sign.  She looked them in the eye and explained that her husband would not be signing.  SHE was buying the car.  They explained that they needed her husband's signature.  She explained that he would NOT be signing.  They had to make several phone calls.  She ended up driving the car home.  Oh she was so proud of that.

Anyway,  no one was more self centered than Bonnie.  It was always about her and we loved it.  She told us amazing stories.  She had heart break and lost a favored grandson is a drug sale gone wrong gang shooting.  But everything about her was larger than life and we were  like little kids with big eyes watching an "R" rated movie.

My brother was a pall bearer.

This is me, Pete and Jo.  This other man is the Bishop who gave a very nice talk.  You could tell he actually knew her.  It was very nice.

The flowers were actually very nice.  I always notice the flowers.

Anyway, I came home sick.  Really sick.  And I also had dead battery.  And a hair appointment.  And a doctor's appointment.  And I had to make sub plans.

Every day has been better since then.

Bye Bonnie.  I will see you later.  And I will miss you.