Eternal Flame
Aug. 29th, 2009 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Well, I finally did have to take out a tissue by the end of the day.
After I did some chores this morning I managed to watch most of the funeral on TV. I did hear the eulogies given by Ted's sons and the President. The North End church was beautiful, and the music and singing incomparable. I especially liked Ave Maria.
The rain fell heavily as the casket left the church.
I also managed to catch the burial at Arlington National Cemetery. I was pretty much okay until they kept showing the Eternal Flame at JFK's grave.
Arlington really is quite beautiful. I've been there with my family years ago. The Custis-Lee Mansion is high on the hill and the Kennedy graves overlook all of Washington, D.C., in all its glory. Ted is now reunited with his brothers after all these years.
My family left a simple carnation when we visited all those years ago. Dad took it and placed it on the edge of the grave, as the stone is roped off. It was very quiet there even though there were a large number of people.
I am going to post that private reflection that will perhaps help explain why I am feeling so emotional this week, but I can't at the moment. There's still stuff I have to sort out. It's enough that the darkness fell, and lightning began to play across the sky after the ceremony, and the family went to Bobby and Jack's graves and slowly drifted away.
What must it be like for Caroline Kennedy, who lost her father years ago, her mother in the 1990s, and her brother? She only has graves to visit now.
I may be ex-Catholic, but like the Army, they never truly let you go. I never made the sign of the cross so much since my parents died. *sighs*

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After I did some chores this morning I managed to watch most of the funeral on TV. I did hear the eulogies given by Ted's sons and the President. The North End church was beautiful, and the music and singing incomparable. I especially liked Ave Maria.
The rain fell heavily as the casket left the church.
I also managed to catch the burial at Arlington National Cemetery. I was pretty much okay until they kept showing the Eternal Flame at JFK's grave.
Arlington really is quite beautiful. I've been there with my family years ago. The Custis-Lee Mansion is high on the hill and the Kennedy graves overlook all of Washington, D.C., in all its glory. Ted is now reunited with his brothers after all these years.
My family left a simple carnation when we visited all those years ago. Dad took it and placed it on the edge of the grave, as the stone is roped off. It was very quiet there even though there were a large number of people.
I am going to post that private reflection that will perhaps help explain why I am feeling so emotional this week, but I can't at the moment. There's still stuff I have to sort out. It's enough that the darkness fell, and lightning began to play across the sky after the ceremony, and the family went to Bobby and Jack's graves and slowly drifted away.
What must it be like for Caroline Kennedy, who lost her father years ago, her mother in the 1990s, and her brother? She only has graves to visit now.
I may be ex-Catholic, but like the Army, they never truly let you go. I never made the sign of the cross so much since my parents died. *sighs*
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