Memorial service--Follow up

It's pretty late, but my mind is still semi conscious. Hopefully I'll sleep in tomorrow.

The whole family went to the 11:00 a.m. worship service at Eastern Hills Comm. Church. My row had my dad, me, and my cousins Al (formerly "Freddie") and Debbie. They came from California and Nevada to be part of the memorial events. These are 2 of the 3 children of my dad's brother. We haven't spent much time together throughout our lifetimes, so it was good to catch up during the last 24 hours. In this way, mom's death helped bring us together.

After the service, the church kindly provided pizza and drinks. Throughout the day, the people at the church were very generous and serving. That in itself speaks highly of EHCC.

I found the service to be more happy than sad and more of a celebration of her life than a mourning of her not being here. The hope of seeing her again with her new resurrection body is comforting and knowing that she's not suffering now.

My dad, brother, and I each gave tributes to her. I focused on more how she used to be, while my brother did some on this, as well as about the last few hours that he spent with her before she passed away. Her last four breaths were increasingly powerful, suggesting that she was seeing something.

There were a number of special songs, including a medley of Jesus Loves me songs and the more recent song "I Can Only Imagine." Steve from the church took some photos that my brother and sister-in-law gave him and came up with a beautiful slide show to the Amy Grant version of "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder," the last song played before she passed away. Sisters Darrah and Spenser beautifully danced to the hymn "Fly to Jesus." Pastor Bob did an excellent job leading the service and adding in humor at appropriate times. I liked how he ended it with a question about if we were sure that we would enter heaven. He left it open for everyone to reflect upon. All in all, the service lasted about an hour.

There were 2 beautiful cakes and punch for the guests afterwards. While I haven't tallied everyone who was there, I would guess that there were at least 100. Many were friends from the church, including some with the children's ministry that mom helped with, as well as the choir that dad sings in. Members of the prayer team who have been praying with my parents came. Some from the condominium board that dad is a member of attended, as well as mom's hair stylist. Pastor Cal and Gloria, with whom my dad worked with in Michigan nearly 30 years ago, attended. My father-in-law flew down from South Dakota to attend. Darren (a classmate and baseball teammate from NJ) and Claire attended.

There was a basket at the back with sheets with "memories" written at the top that people could write favorite memories of mom on. It was encouraging to read how mom had marked different people's lives. These papers will become special treasures and memories for us.

One memory that I shared publicly today was of our nightly bedtime ritual when my brother and I were little. I think this began because my brother had this fear of going to sleep because he might not wake up the night morning. We would say the short prayer "now I lay me down to sleep...," talk about what happened during the day, as well as about what we would do the next day. We also would get a back rub or back scratch. I think that this exercise helped give us confidence for the future.