Back home - SH4SC check in

Good to be home. My mom's funeral was amazing. First, on Friday morning, the immediate family had a private ceremony at the mausoleum to commit her ashes. We learned a new word - inurnment vs interment when it's a burial. All weekend was beautiful and sunny, just like Mom. We had some family and friends come from out of town. It was a wonderful celebration of a life that affected many. You can read her obituary on her Caring Bridge site.

The service on Sunday afternoon was fully packed at Mom & Dad's church. Well over 200 people attended and they had to put extra chairs up in the back, on the sides and in the aisles. We had 3 full pews for family and the dear friends who traveled from Iowa. It was a very nice service with Mom's favorite hymns. After the service, we stood in a receiving line in the fellowship hall for a full 45 minutes. Several of her older friends couldn't stand in line that long so didn't come through the line, so that was probably a blessing for us, especially my feet in new shoes! We received many nice flower arrangements and many, many cards and memorials. Dad continues to get several cards every day.

My husband and I would walk from the house where we were staying to Dad's every morning, 1.7 miles took around 30 minutes, so I did keep up some activity and did pretty well with my eating except for the night of the funeral and a close encounter with a bag of kettle cooked sea salt chips and a few cookies. Couldn't seem to stop myself, but I'm not kicking myself over it. I think emotional eating is allowed during some difficult times. :-/ I was really proud of myself eating healthy during the travel back and forth to Arkansas. My son and I drove back last night and got home at 3am. I had a cleaning crew come at 9am, I went back to bed for a few hours and I'm thrilled to have a clean house now! My hubby turns 50 on the 1st, so we've got a big party planned for that. Whew! I was surprised that my weight was up only one pound from last week (185 this morning) and I haven't really readjusted after travel, so I'm sure I'll be back in the game next week. The scale at the house where we were staying kept saying 175 and I KNEW that couldn't be right. My dad's digital scaled ranged from 176-184, so I wasn't ready to count anything until I got back to my own scale.

I stayed an extra day to help my sisters go through Mom's clothes and jewelry so Dad wouldn't have to worry about that kind of stuff. It was emotional, but also filled with happy reminiscences. We were grateful we had the past 5 months and we know that the process would have been much more difficult if Mom had passed in November as all the doctors expected she would. We all had a chance to spend time with her recently. God is good. And Mom constantly reflected the love of Jesus and affected all who knew her. She had a daycare in her home for 19 years before she retired and some of those at the funeral were kids she'd kept when they were little. One thing my aunt said was "I wish people would stop saying 'Sorry for your loss.' We didn't lose her, we know exactly where she is and we'll see her again!" So I started telling people that while still in the receiving line. :-D And when people would mention how much they enjoyed her cinnamon rolls, I let the secret out that it's Dad who has been making them for YEARS, but Mom always got the credit. LOL

Now, I need to get off my butt and get sewing. I'm supposed to make skirt overlays for those of us dancing the waltz in the showcase this weekend!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week.

Oh, and this happening right before Mother's Day with all of the ads and focus in the stores being on gifts for mom - definitely not helping the occasional overwhelming moments of grief and missing her! :-(