Bittersweet Weekend

Funeral weekend. Need I say more. But even in times of sadness you have to have a little fun.

It started out with a lovely 6 hour ride to Birmingham from Baton Rouge. We got in at about 10:45pm, and were all dog tired. After we went to our rooms my mind was still racing with the drive and events to come in the weekend. So I kidnapped my brothers for a nightcap. The funny thing is that when I went to get Eric I think that Lisa Marie was genuinely offended when I said that she wasn't really invited. Nothing personal there are just some things that you can only discuss with your brothers. I am very glad that I did this because we were able to have an excellent conversation about, well things that only brothers can discuss.

The next morning the funeral started early. It was open casket, I don't like open casket deals. The answer is no they don't look like they are sleeping. Kristin was able to come and did without ever asking, she was a trooper all the way through it (even with the open casket), even though she never even met my grandma before. That meant so much to my family and myself.

The memorial service was pretty awesome. Uncle Fran gave the family remembrances. There was no one better suited to do this. He very eloquently talked about the best parts of my Grandmother. No one else in the family would have been able to hold it together and speak with such power about her life. Thanks Fran.

The pastor was great also. My favorite thing that he said was that we don't move on to a better place like we just up and moved to Florida. We actually die, and it IS Final. The true power of our lives as Christians is that God promises to resurrect us just like he did for Christ. We will be brought back to life in a new world that God has created just for us. All tears will be wiped away by God himself, and there will be no more pain, death, or suffering (Rev. 21:4).

Grandma is up there with Granddad with nothing but joy in their hearts looking down and smiling at us right now.

Enough of the depressing stuff. You absolutely cannot stay sane if you go through a day with only thinking about the depressing idea of death. So we defiantly had some fun. Just a short recap. We broke into the bell tower at the church, and of course while we are up in the bells my dad started to ring the bells. Later we left the church and beat my dad to Betty's house and he is the native. We left and went to Grandma's old house and took a tour of it while the current owners weren't home. Just as we were walking out of the house the current owner's brother in law drives up. Luckily the next door neighbor, Mr. Neighbors, had our back. And then of course a long ride back home.

Thank you to everyone who has offered their prayers up for my family and I. We greatly appreciate it.