11/13/2025
A Family’s Farewell, the Way Abuelo Wanted 🌿
Over the years, this family cared for their beloved Abuelo at home as his health declined, surrounding him with love, laughter, and familiar walls. They even took a home-funeral course together, learning how to honor him with their own hands when the time came.
Before he passed, Abuelo was in attendance the day the family choose his final resting place, visiting the green burial ground in his wheelchair to see where he’d one day return to the earth. I saw it with my own eyes, his smile was ear to ear as he lovingly watched his great grandbabies frolic amongst the trees.
When the day arrived and Abuelo passed away, his family kept him at home. They bathed, dressed, and gently shrouded him, welcoming friends and extended family to sit with him, share stories, and say goodbye in their own time.
The next morning, they transported him themselves- just like they rehearsed in Home Funeral classes months before- to Eloise Woods Natural Burial Park. There, they sang songs to him and each other, as they escorted his body by cart to his eternal earthly bed. As a family, they lowered him into the grave and, with several shovels, each family member took turns returning the earth to its place.. packing id down as it rose, giving him a solid, earthly embrace.
No embalming. No machines. No strangers.
Just hands, hearts, and harmony.
This is what love looks like, full circle. 🌎💚
