Funeral

Today was the day. We had a private burial for my grandma today. The weather was beautiful and the location in the cemetery is perfect. There were 16 of us at the cemetery, not including Pastor Nordlund. While the Pastor was speaking about my grandma, I heard crunching and crackling in the leaves and trees just down from where we were. I looked and saw 2 deer walking along the side of the fence. It was a perfect scene for where we were and what we were doing. The Pastor quoted someone by the name of Carl Sandburg. While this isn't verbatim, he said something to the effect that my grandma was a like a tree, a Redwood tree. He compared her to a tree in the sense that they are difficult to measure, until they have fallen. That really struck me...and I like the analogy. He also went around and asked any one of us to say one word that would describe my grandma. Some of the words were Genuine, Loving, Generous, Funny and Caring, all of which fit her. There were 12 roses there. Each member of the family, one by one, got to take a rose and put it on her casket. Those roses created such a powerful impact as that dozen laid across the top. After the cemetery, we went to the church for the funeral at 11 am. My grandma had always wanted my cousin Laura to play "Amazing Grace" on her flute at her funeral. Today my grandma got her wish. Laura did a great job with the song. While at the funeral, I was thinking about the time I got to spend with my grandma. I feel like I have been thinking negatively the past 4 days but today, my thoughts turned to positive ones. I thought about how I was the oldest grandchild and therefore I got to spend the most amount of time with my grandma than the other grand kids. I also thought about my grandpa too. While he died when I was 8, I still am thankful for the few memories I still have of him. I thought about my cousins, who were either probably too young to remember him or wasn't even born yet. Cherish all the time you get to spend with your loved ones....even if it is for a short period of time. Back to the church...the amount of people that showed up was impressive to me. I really didn't know what to expect since my grandma only had 2 sons, 5 grandchildren a great-grandchild and 1 niece, which encompasses of what I know as the "Sterner side" of the family. A few of my relatives from my mom's side, the Falzone side, were there as well as many other people I was not familiar with. Overall, the day went very smoothly and truly was a perfect day and setting for my grandma. It helped me tremendously with my grieving and today was truly a celebration of her life. Thank you to all of you who have reached out to me through the comments on this blog, through emails to me or talking with me on the phone or in person. Your support has helped me through this difficult time. You realize how many people you have on your side when something like this happens and I thank you again for being there for me.