Sitting Shiva
Wilmington, DE
August 2017
I never went to sit Shiva so I didn't know what to expect. A few people were already there when I arrived so I joined them on the couch. We talked of the pending solar eclipse, the political unrest, the Camino de Santiago, upcoming road trips and lox and bagels.
I asked Lynn where her father was buried.
"I don't know right now," she tells me.
"What do you mean? I thought I read in the paper that he was going to be buried with your mother".
"Yea, that's what we thought but when we got to the cemetery, we found out we only had a plot for four people. My mother and two brothers and my grandmother are buried there. So the rabbi made an arrangement with the people who have the family plot beside ours and apparently, we were allowed to bury him there. So we did that on Wednesday. But yesterday, the rabbi called me and told me he screwed up and we couldn't bury my dad there. So he wanted me to sign a legal paper to exhume the body and bury him elsewhere. But I don't know where. And then he wanted me to sign a paper that said I wouldn't sue him for this big mix up.
"How did the rabbi screw up so much," I asked?
"He was very apologetic. He felt terrible. He didn't have a final approval when we buried my dad and the people got mad and now we have to dig him up. The rabbi feels bad. But I'm in mourning. I can't be thinking of these things now."
"So, where does it stand?"
"I don't know. Hey, did you eat yet? I have tons of food. Do you like lox and bagels?"
Wilmington, DE
August 2017
I never went to sit Shiva so I didn't know what to expect. A few people were already there when I arrived so I joined them on the couch. We talked of the pending solar eclipse, the political unrest, the Camino de Santiago, upcoming road trips and lox and bagels.
I asked Lynn where her father was buried.
"I don't know right now," she tells me.
"What do you mean? I thought I read in the paper that he was going to be buried with your mother".
"Yea, that's what we thought but when we got to the cemetery, we found out we only had a plot for four people. My mother and two brothers and my grandmother are buried there. So the rabbi made an arrangement with the people who have the family plot beside ours and apparently, we were allowed to bury him there. So we did that on Wednesday. But yesterday, the rabbi called me and told me he screwed up and we couldn't bury my dad there. So he wanted me to sign a legal paper to exhume the body and bury him elsewhere. But I don't know where. And then he wanted me to sign a paper that said I wouldn't sue him for this big mix up.
"How did the rabbi screw up so much," I asked?
"He was very apologetic. He felt terrible. He didn't have a final approval when we buried my dad and the people got mad and now we have to dig him up. The rabbi feels bad. But I'm in mourning. I can't be thinking of these things now."
"So, where does it stand?"
"I don't know. Hey, did you eat yet? I have tons of food. Do you like lox and bagels?"
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