death culture
deadbabymama added her playlist-o-death to justin's unintentional choice of and you will know us by the trail of dead (see previous comments), and we had our first annual death filmfest here at home last night. i wanted to rent "finding neverland" and justin wanted to rent season two of "six feet under", so he came home with both. neverland got off to such a slow start, though, and i was impatient, so we switched over to nate and company, which was far more entertaining. i want my death-oriented film to make me laugh, dammit!
i was always one of those people really uncomfortable with funerals and wakes and so forth, before hans died, and then i suddenly got it. in mexico, they have a much more cozy relationship with death. they have a couple of days set aside for death parades and picnics in graveyards, for pete's sake.
a couple of years ago, justin and i went to the mummy museum in guanajuato - only in mexico, man. the museum is there because the soil around guanajuato is particularly acidic - i think - and bodies buried in it are preserved remarkably well. they discovered the soil's properties when they ran out of land for burials and started digging up old graves to make room for new, and they turned up whole bodies that had been buried for 100 years. mummies of children were kind of tough to take, but what really got me were the adult mummies, with their perfectly preserved silvery pubic hair. i'm nauseated now just remembering it. we didn't stay there long.
as gross as it was, there's something to be said for being comfortable with death. it makes it easier to accept the inevitability of my death, here in this new place i've found - about halfway between denial and visiting mummy museums.
justin is struggling today, more from fear for my fate tomorrow than for the loss of the tadpole. life will be better for us once i come out of the d&c tomorrow. i think there will be mourning for the poor tadpole later, who i fear is getting a little shortchanged at the moment. but we'll have all the time in the world to make it up to the tadpole later, after tomorrow.
i was always one of those people really uncomfortable with funerals and wakes and so forth, before hans died, and then i suddenly got it. in mexico, they have a much more cozy relationship with death. they have a couple of days set aside for death parades and picnics in graveyards, for pete's sake.
a couple of years ago, justin and i went to the mummy museum in guanajuato - only in mexico, man. the museum is there because the soil around guanajuato is particularly acidic - i think - and bodies buried in it are preserved remarkably well. they discovered the soil's properties when they ran out of land for burials and started digging up old graves to make room for new, and they turned up whole bodies that had been buried for 100 years. mummies of children were kind of tough to take, but what really got me were the adult mummies, with their perfectly preserved silvery pubic hair. i'm nauseated now just remembering it. we didn't stay there long.
as gross as it was, there's something to be said for being comfortable with death. it makes it easier to accept the inevitability of my death, here in this new place i've found - about halfway between denial and visiting mummy museums.
justin is struggling today, more from fear for my fate tomorrow than for the loss of the tadpole. life will be better for us once i come out of the d&c tomorrow. i think there will be mourning for the poor tadpole later, who i fear is getting a little shortchanged at the moment. but we'll have all the time in the world to make it up to the tadpole later, after tomorrow.
posted by laura at 2:48 PM
3 Comments:
I hope everything goes ok tomorrow Laura. You will certainly be in my thoughts, as you have been all weekend.
(((hugs)))
I started to get the death thing when my dad was dying, but of course I really got it when deadbaby died. Like many things there is a fine line between a healthy relationship with death and a cavalier attitude and I know I cross the line a lot, thankfully I'm still in the magical thinking zone so I can get away with it, but sometimes I wonder if I'll ever have any significant distance from death again.
Hope everything goes as well as it can tomorrow; I'll probaby call and check in with you guys tomorrow night. If you don't feel like talking don't pick up, I understand.
You are in my thoughts tomorrow Laura. Sending you lots and lots of hugs. Let us know as soon as you (or Justin) can how things went. Thinking of you both.
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