a bit of closure

Mom's funeral was simple but beautiful. My Aunt Phyllis played the organ while she and my Uncle Darrel sang a duet. Uncle Darrel also sang a solo that was incredible. It's hard to believe he's 80 years old -he's definitely still got it goin on -lol! Mom didn't want flowers -just a single rose upon her casket. I got her a beautiful orange-ish rose with a bit of greenery -it even smelled pretty!

After the service we drove in procession behind the hearse to the cemetery. I was touched to see the respect that folks in the south still show by pulling off to the side of the road -even the on-coming traffic pulled to the shoulder and stopped. One man on the opposite side of the road even took his hat off -now that's class! :)

We weren't at the cemetery all that long. The pastor read a few passages and a poem, said a prayer and it was time to go. At that point, my Uncle Darrel handed me the rose from on top of my mother's casket and said 'for peace' -it was a gesture of kindness I'll remember forever.

From the cemetery, we all headed back to the house -which is probably no more than a mile away. Our friends Mindy and Anne had gone ahead after the service to get everything set up for lunch. They were such a help -really, really good people! When we got back to the house, Aunt Ruby put Mom's rose in a pretty little vase to show it off. There was tons of food and of course, sweet tea. As we ate, we looked at pictures and swapped stories about what a great gal my mom was. It was a nice afternoon.

That evening, my Uncle Bob's family came into town and stopped by for dinner. They were on their way back home to upstate New York, after spending a week at their place in Florida (must be nice, eh? lol!). We had a huge dinner of BBQ chicken and leftovers from earlier in the day and of course, we did some more reminiscing about my mom. One thing I've noticed about folks in the south... when someone dies, everyone starts cooking, food gets delivered to the family and then then they eat and eat and eat and EAT -lol! Seriously, I've never seen anything like it!

After dinner when it was a bit cooler out, I took a walk up the road to see Mom one last time before my early morning flight back to California. I think that was almost more difficult than her funeral. Needing to let go of some of my grief, I sat down in the grass and had a good cry. Finally, in the twilight, I stood up, brushed myself off, laid the rose at her grave and said goodbye.