The night of the viewing- there were sooo many people!
The funeral guy taught us how to "guide" people through the line since everyone would want to talk to my mom. Haha so now you know, when you go to a viewing (or wedding reception) and the next person in line grabs your hand and starts talking to you, you know you've been talking to the last person too long! We were suppose to stand in numerical, age order...but I wanted to stand by mom so that I knew who the people were. I'll admit, I wasn't very good at it, so we ended up putting Shawn next to mom and that got the line moving!
It was a lot of fun to go through all my Dad's boxes of things he felt were memorable and to pick the things we thought most represented him. Although we did find an unopened can of some sort of food from Australia from his mission....ya pretty sure we dumped that. Spencer also helped me put together a slideshow of pics...ok I think Spencer did most of the work. My dad loved taking pictures, but that made it difficult finding pictures of him in it! So lesson learned...being the photographer is not always beneficial!
I could not believe how many friends and family sent flowers (they aren't all shown in this pic)! They were everywhere! And because a lot of people know how much our family loves plants, people sent live plants too which was pretty cool. Something we could keep longer than flowers.
We might have decided that shoes were optional...it was a long night! I loved listening to people tell stories. My dad was a very quiet person we didn't know a lot of the things people told us.
After the viewing, the family congregated at our house for food and practice. All the men in our family sang a song for the funeral. My family may be all girls, so having all these men in the house singing WOW...totally different vibe!
The funeral went well. cried...laughed... passed the kleenexes down the row...the whole bit. A tradition in our family is we love to stand around the piano and sing while my mom plays. Tamara and I had song a duet for "I Stand All Amazed" a few different times and my dad loved the rendition so we decided we would all sing it together. We were worried we wouldn't make it through. So my Aunt Sheree sat by the piano just in case mom couldn't finish playing and Aunt Robyn (amazing voice) sat behind us, just in case we fell through. We made it through the song without any hitch! I honestly believe in miracles. People complimented us afterwards at how great and beautiful it was. I know we had angels singing with us...that's the only way we got through and sounded the way we did.
As sisters we debated who would have to give the life sketch...none of us thought we could get through it so we put it together and let my dad's cousin do it. Afterwards, I kinda wished that one of us had done it. Not that Pat didn't do well, she did awesome, but I'm sure there would have been more I would have said. Originally I was going to post what I thought I'd say, but it was holding me up from writing at all, so I just didn't. But I do have to tell this story, if anything just to remember it.
A man came up to me afterwards and said that he and my dad were best friends in high school and roommates in college and that he had tons of crazy stories to tell of my dad. One was they were headed over to a girls' apartment and they knew they were probably going to play the desert game...You know...You're under a blanket and in a desert...what is something you take off to stay cool? The girls had been planning on playing it so my dad, "innocently" volunteered. He got under the blanket. First he took off his shoes and threw them out, then socks, shirt and by now the girls were going crazy...and then came the pants and then some boxer shorts! The guy said the girls were screaming with laughter! And then my dad threw off the blanket and he had brought extra boxer shorts with him! And that gives you an insight to my dad- always one step ahead of the game, and would probably have denied that story! The guy had to leave so I was bummed he couldn't tell us more stories, but I loved that one!!!
My nieces are so stinkin cute! I love them to death!! Poor Kassity..we may have forgotten snacks. So when we got out to the cemetary she was starving! And as a two year old she is not censored. So during the whole procession and prayer she was crying about being "hungy" and needing a drink. I think someone found her some gum, but she was pretty grumpy!
I know funerals are suppose to be a sad thing but I am so glad for a loving supportive family and friends that would do anything for us. Although I'm sure my Dad would have loved to stay with us longer, we realized he had done all he needed to do in this life. He left my mom financially stable, house paid off, etc. Shannon did Jr. Miss and he worked so hard so that he could walk her onto the stage, and he did. And he helped so many people and changed lives. I know my dad is watching us and loves us tons!
Ok, two hardest posts out of the way....DONE!!! The best part of life is that it is constantly moving and changing and I love every moment of it!
