Curtains For You, Kid

• {EDITORIAL NOTE: This one's going to be a little longer than usual.

"Blog," as a word, is some kind of abbreviated portmanteau that, I think, comes as close to describing the thing itself as any other term in this dumbed-down and ridiculous "parlance of our times." Or at least the term "blog" suggests how I use my blog. (Yikes. "My blog." Try to say that out loud in earnest and you'll marvel at how easy it is to repulse yourself.)

My blog, typically, is a space for me to be glib, and to keep in some kind of loose contact with an irregular and far-flung group of friends, and - from time to time - to direct The Reader's attention to some extraordinary or entertaining aspect of our popular culture. The guiding principle behind Curtains For You, Kid seems to always be: "Keep it light." Or, just as often: "Keep it."

But, occasionally, I think, this blog could serve as a space for me to showcase material for The Reader that reflects my actual feelings about a personal event.

The other day I was asked to speak at the funeral ceremony for my beloved and recently departed grandmother. What follows is the text, slightly altered, from the speech that I gave. - TDH}


• I think that Eleanor, "Freckles," my grandmother, was given a gift - life - by God.

I think that Gramma Freckles herself would be much more qualified to make that statement than I am, but I don’t think that that makes it any less true.

Eleanor was given the gift of life by God, and in return she gave Him the gift of a life gracefully and remarkably lived.

At this time I feel that this metaphor bears extension. It is easy for me to imagine Freckles' life as the vessel for the present that she gave to her Lord, in the same way that a little felt box might contain a lovely necklace.

Into her life, into this parcel that she dedicated herself to preparing for God, Gramma Freckles packed the unceasing care and support of those around her. In addition, she packed into her life her loving relationship with her husband Gilbert, to whom she was married for some sixty years, and with whom she raised three exceptional children.

Perhaps most importantly, the present Freckles gave to God was packed to overflowing with her own energy and vitality that seemed, I think to all of us here, to be limitless.

When Eleanor passed away, she did so as peacefully and as gracefully and as elegantly as she had lived her life. And although I was initially overcome with the emotions that accompany the loss of a loved one, it didn't take long for me to consider the idea that the way she passed was, in some way, the wrapping and the ribbon she put on her own personal gift to God.

Gramma lived her life as fully and considerately as anyone ever had. If she could talk to us today, I think that she would remind us all that there is nothing to be sorry about. We ought to take this time to celebrate the life of Eleanor, and to continue to be inspired by her life to make our own lives into the kind of beautiful and exquisite experience that she had.