Well, I finally received that dreaded phone call from the hospital. Mum died peacefully in her sleep two weeks ago. She'd been paralyzed on one side since her last stroke and could no longer swallow. The doctors wanted to insert a feeding tube in her stomach, which she refused. The day after she passed away. It's been an emotional roller coaster ever since. I feel relieved, sad, forlorn, wishing there's something beyond this life, happy to get on with my own life, etc. etc.
The funeral was at a funeral parlour near our old Kingdom Hall. An elderly JW did the talk, and I'm actually glad that it was a cut-and-paste, dry Watchtower talk 'cause I didn't get weepy at all during the service.
Lots of people from work came and were impressed by how many people attended the funeral of an elderly widow. I have to admit, the dubs outdid themselves in providing food and being friendly without any preachiness.
So, sorry guys, but I have no horror stories to tell about how incredibly awful and coldhearted the JWs were. My Jewish boss and his wife told me that they found it rather refreshing, since at Jewish funerals there is so much forced weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, with each person trying to outdo the next in demonstrating the depths of their grief.
The JW elder did kind of forget who his audience was and started in on "worldly" people and the 144,000; when I asked a few people what they thought of that, they either didn't listen and didn't really care what beliefs JWs have.
That's when it really hit home to me what a teeny, small, insular world JWs live in. The non-JWs who were at the funeral were there to support my brother and I, not to listen to a religion's dogma. I'm sure the JWs are hoping it "gave a good witness" and all that crap, and that those few insignificant words will have all kind of ripple effects, when in fact the non-dubs didn't even really listen and could care less what JWs believe. They were, however, impressed with all the food prepared by the dubs!
Well, now I'm just rambling. I think it's mum's death is too recent for me to be able to get any kind of perspective on things. Maybe I'll come up with some bad stuff about the dubs and their actions during the funeral after I've had time to assimilate everything .