Cherrie Part 2

Cherrie's visitation was on Monday and Funeral on Tuesday. I guess it's not supposed to be called a funeral but a celebration of life. As expected, there were tons of people that showed up for both days. There were not enough seats for everyone on Tuesday at Eagle Brook church in White Bear Lake so some were left standing. It was a great service that truly paid tribute to Cherrie. Her niece, Kayla spoke as well as her cousin, Lorrie. There was a lot of humor in Lorrie's stories and we know that laughter is the best medicine. A friend of the family named Charlie also sang "Amazing Grace" and "On Eagle's Wings". Cherrie was buried at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, which is across the street from Century College. We lost count at 53 cars that were in the funeral procession. Cherrie truly had no enemies and was loved by all.

Michael and I have been together for close to 4 years and I didn't meet Michael's family for about 7 months after we started dating. I met Cherrie at her house for Chad's graduation a little over 3 years ago. Since that time, she has made an impact in my life, especially in the past 10 months since diagnosis just showing us all that even though you are terminally ill, you do not need to live your life that way and you don't have to complain about it either.

Since Michael's family is so big (from what I'm used to) and there are always friends and family around, I didn't get a chance to spend much time with Cherrie one on one but I did have a small opportunity that I will treasure forever. We were in Florida this past February and most of the brothers and sisters and spouses went to a wildlife sanctuary. Cherrie and I had the opportunity to walk together and talk through the paths of the swamps and wilderness for part of that time. The guys tended to hang close to each other during this journey and Kim had to make a B-line for the bathroom (Remember that Kim?!) so it was fun to be able to just spend time in nature with Cherrie. Nothing profound was said or discovered, but it was just the time. The time to be able to be with someone that you may not always have that chance to. Take this message with you. Spend time with the people you love. Family and Friends. Value and cherish them. Realize what is important in life.