In Loving Memory

 So my husband's father passed away from pancreatic cancer on February 16th and was buried on February 21st.  He died in a peaceful and beautiful way, surrounded by family, continuous prayers and having totally emptied himself of all things of this world.  Only those who saw him on his very last day can understand the total emptiness of self.   And so we had to let him go as God had called him. During his last hours we had read some of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard for the dying.... actually some of them were said a few times since he seemed to be passing and then perk up again when the priest came or certain prayers were said.  And there he died in great peace after we had just said the Rosary and were mid-way through the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  Those last hours can never be expressed in words as they are some of the most cherished moments I can ever remember.

We were very blessed to have been very close to Pop.  And in my many memories I think my favorite one is that he always treated me as a daughter.  Not an in-law, never an out-law, always a daughter.  How many things can I say he helped us with over the years, I cannot even begin to count.   But so many of those things are a constant reminder of the great love he had for his family.... and especially his grandchildren.  Marigold took a very special fancy to Grandpa and the last time she saw him, put on quite a display of show-off-ness for him.  Of course she was just showing him where the various parts of her anatomy were like her eyes and nose, ears and mouth but it was a precious moment as it was one of the last times he laughed.

 The wake was quite nice as wakes go.  The Rosary and Prayers as well as a talk by one of our local priests was packed with people.

 I think this was the loveliest casket I've ever seen.  The Pieta was in every corner.  The Last Supper on the sides.

 The grandchildren were all color coded by family... mine were in red... of course.  It was so much easier to tell which children belonged to whom... I was tempted to put some of the stooges in someone else's color, but refrained.

 Never a moment when Eowyn can't find a book to read.

 One of my husbands' brothers put together a really great picture video full of fond memories. It was really well done.

 The Requiem High Mass was absolutely beautiful.  Our wonderful choir did a superb job.   For months I had desired to sing for his funeral (not that I wanted to have the funeral but it was something that I had to accept and the Requiem music is some of my favorite) but no matter how much you firmly believe in God's Will, in Eternity, and accept death as a reality and a friend (one cannot get to Heaven without first passing through death),  one is not always prepared for the human side of things.  So I had to give up the idea and just be blessed that we had so many people who sacrificed much to prepare and sing for this day with great love.

 Enough cannot be said about how wonderful our priest was through all this. The number of times we called him at weird hours of the day!   This was his first Requiem Mass.  There were probably close to 250 people present.

 This day was a very bitterly cold day as we stood outside at the cemetery.

 And so we said farewell and.... Eternal Rest grant unto him, O Lord and Perpetual Light shine upon him, may he rest in Peace.

 The reception was quite nice, chuck full of food as our TLM community is pretty well-known to have.  Close to 200 people stayed for the meal.

 A little mafia game of Go Fish.

We miss you!!