Love Lives On

Love lives on; love lives on
Even when the heartbeat's gone
It won't rust or turn to stone
Life may end but love lives on.  Paul Overstreet

Today is Thanksgiving 2018. I am behind and all my to do's of the day had me up at 4 this morning.
While I have to say I have many thankful thoughts running through my mind, they just aren't about the holiday and the work still to do.  I'm reflecting on yesterday, my Mom's homegoing celebration and I suppose wanting to hold onto it a bit longer.
Likely it was a bit unconventional  by today's somewhat button-downed standards, but it was purely and sweetly Granny Wandy.
So much she would have loved.
 Lots of pastor friends there, singing, praying, playing, speaking and taking care of business.
Lots of folks saying kind things about her.
All those kids and their kids and their kids.
Friends and more friends.
Food and plenty of it, kindly provided by the church, on a day when most folks are already under the gun on Thanksgiving Eve.
Songs galore, to the accompaniment of piano, guitar and a fiddle.  Recorded songs so even those gone on, her Daddy, my Papaw and Glenda were even there.
Beautiful flowers she would love.
And some beautiful sunshine, which just lifts the darkness that can dampen the spirit of the day.

Many hands make light work, but many hands can also cause lots of misunderstandings and confusion.  I am so thankful the siblings made it through, bringing our hopes for the day being all about our Mom to fruition.

It is rather nerve wracking on one hand to wonder if all the effort we put in would look and feel like we hoped.  My Mom so loved old hymns that I asked my long time friend Pastor Dave if he would just play and sing for us during that early time.  It really turned out to be a huge comfort to me and added a peace we all needed.
We had beautiful flowers from the seven of us, but I wanted something that included all of her line.  I found this tree and a teacher friend from school put all bazillion names of Mom and Daddy's offspring on it.  It was so neat.

 Everybody has their thing and mine is flowers. I wanted them to be stunning and they were.

 My boy Bean was in charge of snaps for the day and he caught some great moments.

 When I did Daddy's eulogy, Pete shared the reading with me and it was a comfort  to have someone close.  Grief does strange and unexpected things to us sometimes and I didn't know how it would be to get through it.  When it was time for Kaye's, Handy Man took over that spot, then again for Glenda. Sadly, I am a lot more familiar with this process and felt I could handle it, I just wanted him where he's always been- holding me up.

Several years back, Uncle Tim wrote a song about Daddy and Mom meeting up.  So cute.  When I reached the part  about that, Tim sang Mom's song. 

My theme was spoons -spoons to serve and spoons to dig and spoons to eat, spoons to join the band, all about things Mom loved. At this point, some of our littles passed out a little chocolate spoon with a card that said-

Granny Wandy would say

Love the Lord,

Say your prayers,

Dig in the dirt,

Share a meal, 

And serve up love,

With a big spoon.

Teresa, using the words from Ruth, paid tribute to the woman who has helped us care for Mom these last three and a half years. 

 Throughout the service, the lunch and the internment John and Mary Francis played Mom's favorite songs and we all sang along.  The Captain said, "I thought to myself, this isn't a funeral, it is a church service."  Indeed.  Just like Mom would have wanted.

 Time for food and the kind team at New Beginnings Church did an awesome job feeding this group.

 Time for more singing.  One by one the kids made their way over and joined in on the songs.
From my earliest childhood memories, the times with friends and singing that happened as often as my Mom could make it, were amongst my favorites.  That went on most of my life.  As the family grew bigger, it became harder to orchestrate these events.  They don't happen so often now, so seeing my own grandkids gathering up, clapping, smiling and singing their heart out just for the joy of it, was a complete delight.

 Bean has a real talent for capturing Rae with some interesting expression, at every get together.

 I asked Drummer Boy to remember his Granny by playing the spoons in her stead.

 Stephen is not one to want to be up in front, but when the music gets going, he can't help himself and sings his heart out. So you sit close so you can hear his beautiful voice.  The acoustics in the chapel later were so perfect, and though I love Amazing Grace, and love to sing, I could only listen to him.

I so appreciated the sunshine and all her big boys assisting her on her last earthly  move.

 Just like with David, we all hung around to see this through.  Each kidlet that wanted one made a bouquet from her flowers.  They asked lots of questions about what was happening and were so good after such a long day.  Rae sidled up beside me softly singing one last old oft sung favorite, Just Inside the Eastern Gate.

I'll see you there Mama.