Last month we did the official Goodbye to The Wild Granny. Mom had always wanted a wake and while this wasn’t quite a wake it was close enough.
Mom was The Keeper of the Rum for the Polly Dodger. As such, our 3rd in command and Mistress of the Lists (as well as one who loved The Wild Granny dearly) held a grand toast at The Wharf Rat during The Fells Point Pirate Invasion in April. We visited. We traded stories. We laughed. We cried.
We ended with a rum toast to a fallen comrade. One who – like the toast said – lived life by her rules without apology or regret.
Sometimes, the conventional isn’t the most appropriate. Mom elected creamation without funeral services. She asked not to be buried yet neglected to state what she wanted done with her ashes. Combining a great many thoughts about Mom and who she was (party animal extraordinairre) and what she liked to do (dress in garb and flirt and drink at renaissance festivals and pirate events), led to two things: 1) her old room in our house is now the garb room and she has a place of honor on the garb dresser (with a few of her items with her) and 2) A toast at Fells Point Pirate Invasion amongst the crew she loved so as well as toasts this weekend at Virginia Renaissance Faire and in August at Maryland Renaissance Festival - two places she loved best with friends she saw far too infrequently.
While this isn’t the most common way to send one on, for her it’s really the only way.
