Thank You

by on July 22, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

This has been a difficult time, and I want to thank everyone who helped me. Some of you spent time with me, which I needed very badly. Some came to the get-togethers to celebrate her life. Some gave me a place to sleep. Some donated money to help pay for my mom’s End of Life expenses after the one bank locked down the funds I had planned to use for that. Thanks to you all, my mom’s cremation and burial were fully funded. Next I need to look at a permanent stone for her grave. I’m thinking a header stone like her brother has, with a future plan for a larger family stone since I bought the plot with plans to make it available for other members of the family if they wanted it. But that’s all future plans, and for now I wanted to thank you all for helping me through this difficult time. You all made a difference. Trust me.

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Traditions

by on July 21, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

We went to Phelps Mill after the funeral. It’s an old mill and dam where the family grew up swimming on weekends, and we tend to congregate there after doing anything at the old church. Funerals. Marriages. We’ve done family reunions and softball games there. Going there is just another family tradition. A marriage ceremony was ending as we arrived, and we took some quick photos as a storm rolled in. We got back to our cars just ahead of the downpour, and went off to eat with family in a nearby town. Traditions like this are important. They help us navigate loss and gain. They remind us that we are part of something greater than just us. A long line of our ancestors has come through all of this before, and our descendents will do the same in the future. It reminds us that there is life after death.

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Funeral

by on July 20, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The funeral for my mom was good. The pastor spoke well. It was a celebration of the life my mom lived, with emphasis on the fact that we will meet again when our souls take the next step in life. And then we walked across the road to the cemetery. I carried my mom’s ashes past her grand parents and great grand parents. Then I hitched a left and walked over to where her parents and her brother lay. Next I took her to her uncles and aunts. Finally, I walked her over to the grave her brother and I dug the day before. I placed her in the ground, and I shoveled dirt onto her. Her brother shoveled dirt on her. One family member after another shoveled dirt until everything was back in place, and finished with the sod. Then we returned to the church for snacks and drinks. It was good. And it was hard.

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Star Lake

by on July 19, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

My mom grew going to Star Lake every summer. The family farm was a few miles away, and they would swim there every night to wash off the residue of working on the farm. But she never had a boat ride on Star Lake. On Friday, her brother rectified that oversight. We took her ashes out on his boat and went by Camp Joy, the summer camp they attended throughout their youth. We went to the beaver dam where they swam as kids, and we jumped out of the boat to take one last swim with mom. And we took a picture of me and my uncle, recreating one of him and my mom in the back of the same boat four years ago. It was a good day. A beautiful day.

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