Okay, I'm going to REALLY squick you out!!

All my life, I have been told that I look just like my maternal grandmother, I act like she, I have the same likes/dislikes as she, I could twist my granddaddy around my little finger just like she, etc, etc. She died several years before I was even born (she was only 55), and we are both equally camera shy.

Up until two years ago, the ONLY photo I had ever seen of her was - yep, in her casket. Of course, when I was little and they told me I was just like her, I cried, because I thought of that funeral photo. Now that I've seen some real photos of my grandmother, and I can see what they're all talking about.

Damn, she was a good looking lady! ;)

Further squicking...

I still regret that we didn't get a photo of my daddy when he died. :( It was so sudden, we forgot so much...

Edited to add that she & I were/are Baptists, since we're stating religions here. My daddy was Assembly of God.

I am so glad someone posted this before I did. I don't agree with everything the Pope said or did, but I can respect what he did while Pope. No one said Catholicsm is perfect!

Let us just have some time to mourn him, like mentioned, before the news media and others start pushing how screwed up his beliefs are.

Excuse me...I have a soapbox to climb off of...

<<end of rant>>

Do you have photos of him from when he was alive, or are you just wishing you had a casket photo?

My grandmother was very camera shy and we only have 2 pictures of her...one as a child and one at my mom's graduation. I wish we had more.

We have photos of him alive, but now he's the only member of our family that we don't have in his casket. I guess it does sound morbid, but it's just something my mother's family has done for generations. I know this is a total hijack, but my mother carries his wedding band with her EVERYWHERE. It was even pinned to her gurney when she had her bypass last year. In this time of so many marriages not making it, I can actually get excited that my parents loved each other so much!

But you hit the nail on the head, Mel - no matter how camera shy, there are never enough photos of the people you love.

May I just add one thing? I'm not a Catholic, either, but the Pope represents millions of people around the world. No one is asking anyone else to rend their clothing and sit shiva or such.

But allow those around you to mourn. It's one of the more important things you can learn to do in life. At some time in everyone's life, one will mourn a loss, and you'll need someone to be there for you, just as you have the opportunity to be there for others now.

Amen. I don't like getting kicked when I'm down either. Unfortunately, some people are too eager to do just that, every chance they get. :(

--add

That's a really interesting tradition.

Damn sometimes you can be such an ignorant asshole...

Actually a national flag can be displayed at half-staff in honour of any world leader - and for any individual deemed worth of the honour by the head of state or governing body.

So the US has flags at half-staff, so do many other countries around the world (Canada being one).

This is the name that I've been hearing about as well. He's been mentioned in nearly every story I've read about a next Pope.

Also, ISPP...where do you get off comparing the Pope to Hitler? If you don't want to honor his life, that's fine - but respect those who are mourning his death.

It's common in the South, too.

Invoking Godwin's Law on ISPP. :rolleyes:

Great law. John should write it into the TOS.

Great drop-in...it could probably be applied to some other threads on the board.

I wasn't doing the attacking - unlike you, who know nothing else.

Regardless of what you think (IF you think) I'm a teacher, I have to be up-to-date on these things, and I don't have the luxury of making things up to suit my world view.

Go back to harrassing DSTCHAOS. She seems to enjoy it.