I was recently reminded of the practice from years ago of bringing the deceased home for the wake. The family would take turns sitting up round the clock with the body. No wonder it became known as a wake from this tradition. The family would clean out a space, usually in the living room, and lay out the body, right in the house.
My Dad often told the story of when his Grandpa Jim was laid out right in the house I now live in. Along with that came the story leading up to Jim’s death.
Jim had bone cancer and had been suffering something awful. The doctor said no more than 72 hours, and he would be gone. It was approximately halfway through the time given by the doctor when Jim called Dad to his bedside. Dad and Jim had always been close, and Dad was taking his impending death hard. Dad said he sat down on the foot of the bed when suddenly, Jim squalled out, “Get up, boy. You’re squashing them, angels.” He said he could hear their beautiful singing. This freaked my Dad out because nothing, or no one, was visible. Jim was on morphine for pain, so it was blamed on hallucinating. Until Jim passed away a few hours later.
The tone was already set for Dad to be spooked easily. The undertaker had already brought the body home, and now it was time for people to show up and pay respects. Soon the Hodge home was full of people saying their final farewell to Jim.
RELATED: Click here to see other memories of the past.
Dad was sitting on the couch doing nothing but staring at the body. All of a sudden, he thought he saw his Grandpa’s breath. He kept watching, and sure enough, he took another breath!! What was going on? Had Grandpa only been in a coma and thought in error to be dead???
Dad knew there was only one thing to do, find the funeral director and tell him what he saw. He soon found him on the porch. Dad immediately explained how he had seen his Grandpa breathe in the casket.
Mr. Meadows gently put his arm around Dad’s shoulders and said, “Son, when we grieve we get so upset our mind plays tricks on us. Mr. Hodge isn’t alive in that casket in some type of coma. I know because I embalmed him myself.”
Dad felt relieved but was still shaken up. He had Grandma Marie take him home and tuck him into bed with a hot water bottle.
And as the ole saying goes, I sure ain’t sitting up with the dead no more!
